Nadia was 8 years old when a rocket destroyed her home in Kabul and nearly her face with it.
She spent nearly two years in hospital. When she was finally able to walk the streets of Afghanistan again, another war awaited her: the Taliban had taken power and women could no longer work, study, or go out alone. Her father was ill, her brother Zelmai had died in combat, and there was no one left to bring bread to that home.
Then Nadia, barely 10 years old, made a decision that could cost her her life: she cut her hair, put on men’s clothes and began pretending to be her own dead brother.
Thus, under his name, she worked for nearly ten years in humble jobs, knowing that if anyone discovered the truth, the punishment was stoning.
In 2006, she arrived in Spain as a refugee. Today, fifteen years later, Nadia Ghulam writes books, gives talks and tells what she lived through so that no other woman has to disappear in order to survive.