A dark anniversary, and the unquenchable light.

Today marks 3 years since the fall of Kabul and the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan.

There is darkness today. Darkness on our country and darkness over the lives and in the hearts of every Afghan woman and girl.

It feels like that’s not even enough to say. The words aren’t enough, and can’t be.

I feel the darkness in my heart. The sadness it brings, and the anger.

But there is hope in me too.

Today I want to share the numbers from this year’s admissions season at SOLA with you. They’re here in this graphic: the numbers of applications we’ve received each year since our first admissions season in Rwanda, back in 2022.

We received just under 200 applications in 2022.

We received just under 2,000 applications last year.

We received 3,290 applications this year.

We can enroll approximately 30 girls. 30 girls, out of 3,290 girls who applied.

That’s a little less than 1%.

Please think about that for a moment. Think about these numbers, and what these numbers are – and who these numbers are.

Each number is a real person. Each number is a real girl. Each number is human. Each number is hope.

We’d hoped to finish shortlisting applications by the end of July. We just haven’t been able to meet that goal, given the number of applications we received. We’re working on shortlisting through the summer, and of course we’ll be working with our partners at the UN’s International Organization for Migration to bring admitted students to Rwanda later this year.

I want to tell every Afghan girl who applied: we will read your application. Every one of you. All 3,290 of you.

And I want to tell you: you can sign up, right now, for our online academy SOLAx. We built SOLAx for you, and for every Afghan girl, everywhere.

You never give up. We never will either.

Your education is your right, and your hope is the fire in the darkness.