Today, Orak had left his Book of Everything alone. He was engrossed in something else altogether. Verum silently observed her friend and he focused on a human-computer screen. Orak was busy typing and typing.
Finally, curious Verum said, “What are you doing, Orak?”
“I just woke up in the mood to code!” replied Orak with a bright smile, “Do you know what coding is? Well, computers don’t do much by themselves. To perform any task such as calculation or a web search, computers have to be given a certain set of instructions. These instructions are given in programming languages that the computer understands. This is called coding. It can be a whole lot of fun!”
“Wow, that is interesting,” said Verum, “I love how I learn something new from you every day.”
“You’re welcome,” replied Orak, “But now, it’s your turn! Why don’t you take that crystal ball of yours for a spin? I’d like to learn something new too!”
“Of course,” said an excited Verum, drifting to her corner of the Mystical dorm room, “Hmm… today’s news is from Afghanistan. You must have heard of the Taliban takeover?”
“Yes!” said Orak, “The Taliban, an extremist group ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. The US invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban from power. It mostly kept the Taliban at bay for nearly 20 years. But in 2021, US President Joe Biden started the process of withdrawing US troops from the war-torn country. And now, 20 years later, the Taliban took over Afghanistan once again in August 2021.”
“You’re right,” said Verum, “Under the Taliban rule 20 years ago, women weren’t allowed to work or study. Women who disobeyed faced severe punishments. And even now, the Taliban has suspended women’s educational institutions after the August takeover.”
“You’ve mentioned this!” said Orak.
“But various organizations are creating resources to help Afghan women continue their education,” said Verum, “One of these is Fereshteh Forough’s Code to Inspire (CTI). CTI is Afghanistan’s first all-women coding academy. It is using the latest technology to secretly and virtually teach coding to Afghan women.”
“That is so cool,” said Orak.
“Not just that but some of CTI’s students are working with global technology companies. They’re working in fields like app development and graphic design. Through this, they also earn a monthly income,” said Verum, “This wouldn’t have been possible during the Taliban rule 20 years ago.”