My friends, they get married at 15 years old. I saw them with bruises on their faces. I realized this is the real face of child marriage.

There is a lot of suffering and injustice in the world, and there is also a great deal of hope. When you step forward and start speaking about what you see and what you want to change, you can begin living in that hope instead of despair.

In order to see truly where I am and where I want to go, I need to remember where I once was.

I saw my friends being beaten because they said no to child marriage.

A good girl in Afghanistan should be silent, should not talk about her future, should listen to your family, be like a doll so that everyone can play with her.

It means so much to me that my family went against our tradition for me.