In a village 60 km west of Kabul, I met six extraordinary teenage girls. Sitting across from them in a room furnished only with a simple rug and a few cushions, I was amazed at how beautiful they all were.

With no make up and their heads covered they still glowed with a kind of beauty that has become extinct in the west where teenage girls (and sometimes boys) rush to look older by wearing makeup and dying their hair. It was the life experience of these girls that made them look older.

The mother of one of the girls, Golsooma, joins us and tells me that she was a newly married teenager when the Mujahideen began their uprising against the Russians. As the only daughter in her family, she tells me, she was the only child who was not sent to school and she admits that she has suffered as a result all her life.

Her 17-year-old daughter, Palwashah, has had a different destiny to her mother. When CARE started its education project in the village, Palwasha was one of the first students. At fırst, when she was not yet 10 years old, there were no problems with the Taliban, but as years went by and she continued to attend courses, she and her family had to take security measures. She had to hide behind the mosque where the courses were held to make sure the Taliban officials did not pay a surprise visit to the mosque.

Golsooma does not flinch when I ask her about the risk and the danger that her whole family faced: “My husband and I believe in the value of education and we agreed that death for education would be for a noble cause.” Palwashah agrees with her mother: “Even when I was afraid I never thought of quitting.”

I have heard similar stories, but hearing it from these girls was a new experience, one that gave me goose-bumps. What made their story hit home with me was the fact that now Palwashah and the other five girls in the room are teachers for CARE’s schools. They teach elementary courses to girls who come to school with little fear of being discovered.

But that is not the end for these six teachers. They each plan to continue their education and become an engineer, doctor, gynecologist, journalist, computer scientist, and even the president of Afghanistan. The road ahead of them is not smooth since even high schools are rare in their village and neighboring areas. However, they have all promised me they will all continue their education no matter what. They told me that they have the support of their family so even if they have to get married, their family won’t accept any one who is not open to their education.

As for Golsooma, she is planning to take some courses from her daughter so that she can learn basic reading and writing.