On September 8 2012 in Kabul,Afghanistan a then 8 year old Mursal along with her 11 year old sister Parwana and 14 year old sister Khorshid were attacked by a Taliban suicide bomber at the entrance to the International Security Assistance Force or ISAF ,the death toll was 7 including Mursal’s sisters,by a simple twist of fate Mursal was at the other end of ISAF when the explosion occurred and was physically unhurt.
When I met her on international women’s day March 8 2014 in Kabul she was 10. She was living with her family in Shuda on the outskirts of Kabul on the top of a hill in a very small home without running water or a bathroom. As I came to learn later her name means messenger, prophet, ambassador, one who is on a mission. Her father had recently left the family due to his drug addiction, joblessness and violent outbursts. I asked her mother what I could do and she said, please help my kids have a better future. This coming from a woman who had lost 6 of her 12 children to poverty, war, terror and other forms of extreme violence. I made the promise and returned in June of 2015. With the funds i raised in the US the family moved into their first secure home and Mursal and her brother and sister began studies in a private school. I also brought a guitar with me and Mursal’s eyes lit up. I asked if she’d like to learn how to play it. When she said,”Yes” our first “Girl with a Guitar” was born. Now at 14 she is the top guitar girl and leader of over a hundred kids mostly girls learning music, english and other valuable life skills. Indeed, young Mursal is on a mission. And a testament to the immaculate power of Love and Music.