Mariam Nasrri

Watching the situation in Afghanistan unfold brings back the horrors Mariam Nasrri experienced the last time the Taliban ruled her birth country from 1996 to 2001. Amidst the civil war, Nasrri and her family fled their home after living through unthinkable traumas. Nasrri immigrated to Canada in 2001, but her troubles were far from over. In 2009, she suffered a concussion, spinal injuries and damage to the left side of her body after falling down a flight of stairs. She spent the next decade in chronic pain, depression and isolation. However, through it all, she persevered and discovered a talent she could use to help improve the lives of the people she left behind in her home country. While studying at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), Nasrri focused on creative writing, a skill she says became an outlet for her own pain and opened doors for her to become an advocate for her people. “I wanted to be the voice for the voiceless in Afghanistan,” says Nasrri. “I have had the opportunity and privilege to experience life in Canada and in Afghanistan. With this unique perspective, I wanted to sharpen up my media and writing skills to be able to have a voice and give my people a voice.” During a visit to see family members still living in Afghanistan, she decided to video document the plight of women and girls in the northern region. “During that trip, I was pursued by the Taliban and had to flee the country,” explains Nasrri. “However, my mission to make a change, influence and bridge the gap between Canada and Afghanistan was not complete, so I returned the next year to finish my project.” While Nasrri found video documenting to be a healing experience, she realized that filming Afghans could put their lives -- and those of her family -- in peril. After members of her family received death threats from the Taliban for supporting her work, she decided the best way to help Afghan women and girls would be to provide opportunities for them to develop skills that would give them more independence and choices. With support from a board of directors that included some of her instructors at KPU, she founded a Canadian-based non-profit called Nahz Empowerment of Women and Girls, an organization that facilitates opportunities for vulnerable women and girls in northern Afghanistan to improve their literacy skills and help them find sustainable employment. At KPU, Nasrri says she found a supportive community -- one that inspired her to pursue her dreams. After graduating in 2017, she earned a certificate from Harvard University online, studying the works of Shakespeare. She credits Nicola Hardward and Chris Sears, her instructors at KPU, with inspiring her passion for writing and the creative arts. Currently, with support from Bard on the Beach, she is writing an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in Afghanistan. She also continues to be a voice for the Afghan community in Vancouver and abroad by focusing on mental health, emigration challenges and violence against women. Since 2015, Nasrri has directed for Caravan TV on OMNI, where she has created and hosts a show focused on social issues within the Afghan community. Over the years Nasrri continued to return to her birth country to give Afghan women a prominent voice on the international stage. In 2019, she brought her training in the 12 Steps program for addiction and trauma therapy to Kabul, where she volunteered at a women and children’s hospital for the homeless who suffer from substance abuse, drug addiction and mental illness. Nasrri was the first woman to organize the 12 Steps program for Afghan women in Kabul and held the first-ever all-female meeting for those who suffer from substance abuse.

In 2020, Nasrri was recognized for her efforts with the Coast Mental Health’s Courage to Come Back Award, which celebrates British Columbians who have overcome significant adversity and who inspire and give back to others. Nasrri says the care and support she has received in Canada has helped restore her faith in humanity, and she hopes to help her community access compassionate support for their mental health.

“I have been lucky, or privileged, to have access to books, to great friends and to counselors to process all my experiences back at home,” says Nasrri. “Mental health is quite stigmatized and a taboo subject in my community, unfortunately. That’s why I hope to contribute to opening up some of the venues for people in my community to reach out for help if they need it.” While COVID-19 and the latest Taliban takeover of Afghanistan have been setbacks for her humanitarian work, Nasrri says she sees this as a beginning rather than an end. As she looks ahead to how she can continue to be of service to her community, she continues to pursue her dream of being a playwright. Despite all she has had to overcome, she remains optimistic for the future.

“I have a chance to spread a message of humanity and compassion and show that the world is for Afghanistan, for my people, especially for women. My experience in both countries gives me hope in humanity, that no matter what, at the end, humanity will remain, because our hearts are always ignited by compassion.”