the Afghan Girl

Sharbat Gula, aka the Afghan Girl

This picture was taken by Steve McCurry for the National Geographic Magazine when Sharbat was only 13 years old. No one, even Steve, knew her name so she was popularly known across the world as The Afghan Girl lang until 2003, when Steve went back to Afghanistan in the hope of discovering her true identity.

Since I'm not an avid fan of National Geographic, I only learned about this photo recently nung nakita namin sa TV ni Jai (pero siyempre si Jai, alam na niya yung tungkol dito kasi nerd sya :)). National Geographic was doing a special segment on "The Most Recognized Photographs" in the history of their magazine, and this photo took the top prize.


I learned that when they finally found Sharbat (and this is after a lot of women came forward claiming that they were her), she distinctly remembered when the photo was taken, because it was the only time someone photographed her. Unbelievable. The National Geographic team had to persuade her (and her husband) to have her picture taken again... Ang hirap, kasi she had a scarf covering her entire face as dictated by their culture, and sabi ni Jai, asking her to take the scarf off was similar to asking her to take all her clothes off. She had no clue that her photo served as a symbol of the state of refugees around the world and that she was famous, if only thru her beautiful, beautiful eyes.

I had mixed emotions when I saw this. Her innocence was a breath of fresh air, because it was apparent she was not after personal fame. But more than that, nakakaawa... Sharbat was already 30yrs old when Steve found her again, but her life now is not that different from her life 16 years ago. They're still struggling, they still don't eat 3x a day, there's still war at her side of the world. Even if her photo 16 years ago captured the world's attention, nothing tangible was done to tremendously improve their plight. Nakaka-lungkot.. :(