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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/world/afghanistan-girls-robotics.html
Afghan Girls’ Robotics Team Overcomes Setbacks to Win Contest in Europe
By CHRISTINE HAUSER NOV. 29, 2017
Six of the team members, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were thrust into the international spotlight in July when they were denied visas to take part in the First Global Challenge robotics competition in Washington, which was meant to showcase the role technology can play in water purification. Visa applications were initially denied for at least 60 other participating teams as well.
After an international outcry, the United States reversed its decision, allowing the Afghan girls to enter the country through a “parole” process that authorizes otherwise ineligible visitors on humanitarian grounds or because it benefits the public.
The team, which had only two weeks to build its robot for the event because a shipment of parts was delayed, won a silver medal for courageous achievement.
It was never clear exactly whythe girls did not get their visas at first. But education for girls in Afghanistan — and the obstacles in getting it — is of great interest as the country has dealt with daunting challenges after more than a dozen years of war.
The girls faced an emotional setback in August, days after they returned home from the United States, when the father of the team’s captain was killed in a suicide bombing.
Roya Mahboob, an Afghan technology entrepreneur who interpreted for the teenagers in the United States, is the chief executive of Digital Citizen Fund, a women’s empowerment nonprofit that sponsored the Afghan team. She posted a congratulatory message on Twitter after the girls won the contest in Estonia.
Roya Mahboob
✔@RoyaMahboob
I’m so proud to announce that Afghan Girls Robotics Team won the entrepreneur challenge in the biggest Robotics Festival in Europe in Estonia. #Afghanistan Frist place#Poland Second place#Estonia Third place
Ms. Mahboob said they edged out a team from Poland, which took second place in the entrepreneur award, and the Estonian team, which came in third.
The girls returned to Afghanistan immediately after the competition, Ms. Mahboob said in an email. Some of them had to take exams.
F**k you Trump and your supporters
Afghan Girls’ Robotics Team Overcomes Setbacks to Win Contest in Europe
By CHRISTINE HAUSER NOV. 29, 2017
- Robotex festival, which was held in Tallinn, Estonia, on Nov. 24 through 26, the Afghan embassies in London and Washington announced this week.
“We are extremely proud of the wonderful accomplishments of the Afghan All-Girl Robotics Team,” Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Said T. Jawad, said in a statement on Wednesday. “They are an excellent example for people around the world of what can be accomplished by young Afghans if given the right support and the opportunity to excel in their education.”
AfghanEmbassyLondon@Afghan_Emb_LON
Congratulations to our Afghan Girls Robotics Team for winning the entrepreneur challenge in the biggest Robotics Festival in Europe in Estonia. #ProudAfghans #Robotex17 #AfgDigital
Afghan Embassy DC
✔@Embassy_of_AFG
Another round of congratulations to the girls robotics team for winning the entrepreneur challenge at the Estonian Robotics Festival, the biggest robotics festival in Europe! You make us proud.
Three of the team’s 12 members participated in the competition. Their challenge was to showcase a prototype that could solve a real-world problem, and that customers would want to buy. They won with a robot that could use solar energy to support small-scale farmers in their fields, the embassy in London said. The winner was chosen by the thousands of spectators who attended the event.
The girls’ appearance at the competition in Estonia, a northern European country thousands of miles from their homeland, was a vindication of sorts after their struggles earlier this year to overcome the bureaucracy of showcasing their work internationally.
Six of the team members, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were thrust into the international spotlight in July when they were denied visas to take part in the First Global Challenge robotics competition in Washington, which was meant to showcase the role technology can play in water purification. Visa applications were initially denied for at least 60 other participating teams as well.
After an international outcry, the United States reversed its decision, allowing the Afghan girls to enter the country through a “parole” process that authorizes otherwise ineligible visitors on humanitarian grounds or because it benefits the public.
The team, which had only two weeks to build its robot for the event because a shipment of parts was delayed, won a silver medal for courageous achievement.
It was never clear exactly whythe girls did not get their visas at first. But education for girls in Afghanistan — and the obstacles in getting it — is of great interest as the country has dealt with daunting challenges after more than a dozen years of war.
The girls faced an emotional setback in August, days after they returned home from the United States, when the father of the team’s captain was killed in a suicide bombing.
Roya Mahboob, an Afghan technology entrepreneur who interpreted for the teenagers in the United States, is the chief executive of Digital Citizen Fund, a women’s empowerment nonprofit that sponsored the Afghan team. She posted a congratulatory message on Twitter after the girls won the contest in Estonia.
Roya Mahboob✔@RoyaMahboob
I’m so proud to announce that Afghan Girls Robotics Team won the entrepreneur challenge in the biggest Robotics Festival in Europe in Estonia. #Afghanistan Frist place#Poland Second place#Estonia Third place
Ms. Mahboob said they edged out a team from Poland, which took second place in the entrepreneur award, and the Estonian team, which came in third.
The girls returned to Afghanistan immediately after the competition, Ms. Mahboob said in an email. Some of them had to take exams.
F**k you Trump and your supporters
