Our Shared Stories: An Afghan Diary
A Nonprofit Project
Amplifying Afghan
Voices
Coming Summer 2026
Our Shared Stories: An Afghan Diary is a collection of real stories from Afghans around the world. We explore themes of loss, resilience, rebuilding, innovation, and hope through the voices of some of the most remarkable minds in our community.
We’re currently gathering pieces for the next volume of Our Shared Stories to honor the monumental shift in Afghan history and distinct voices of our community. We are looking for short essays (750–1000 words) or creative works (poetry, photography, or other artistic expressions) that reflect any part of your journey, memory, or experience as an Afghan or in Afghanistan.
100% of proceeds from the sale of our books support girls’ education in Afghanistan (past recipients include: School of Leadership Afghanistan, Digital Citizen Fund, and Code to Inspire). Submissions can be emailed to hello@oursharedstories.co or sent through our website.
Part 2: Confirmed Writers
Part 1: Featured Writers
The stories in this book should leave you with emotions and perspectives that were yet to be developed. This anthology will shed a new light on both the country of Afghanistan and the individual Afghan experience. The contributors offer thoughtful reflections about their experiences escaping from the wars in Afghanistan, resettling in host countries, and working to rebuild Afghanistan in the past decade. This book connects Afghan people around the world. While many of us are displaced from the land of Afghanistan, we are, nonetheless, tied to our rich Afghan culture. Though we may be spread across continents, we are not alone. We hold common traditions, languages, foods, and dance.
We have endured similar experiences during the wars or throughout our journeys abroad. We are Afghan, hyphenated or not. Additionally, this book is a great opportunity to share our culture outside the Afghan community. It is a chance to show others that we are not so different from them, that we love our new homes, and that we have contributed to our adoptive countries as well as our motherland. You will also find several stories from non-Afghans who relay their own conception of the Afghan people.
Select Story From Part 1
Of Sunshine and Ghosts
By Shakieb Orgunwall
There is a ghost in these photographs. Look closely-it lurks quietly within the frames. It’s no ordinary phantom; not some shadowy apparition or a specter in flames. But the imperishable spirit of a nation; of a country that almost was; of an Afghanistan that might have been. And it now roams, enchained, through the abandoned corridors of my imagination; staring back at me, pleadingly, off the surface of the printed film, from where it has haunted me since my earliest recollections. As a small boy intrigued, brimming with wonder; as a teen in search of truth; as a grown man trying to reassemble fragments of an identity shattered swiftly in youth.
I peer into images diminished now. Dimmed and dulled through the passage of years. And yet, in some ways impressed eternally upon the pages of my mind. Old pictures from an era bygone, tucked between the covers of my family’s photo albums; aging and fading out of sight and mind. In truth, for many years I remained conflicted as to whether these pictures warranted my sharing, but at some point I found my ambivalence receding, giving way to a realization that these images no longer belonged to my family alone, but to every Afghan the world over. Belonging, not as souvenirs collected through our common travels of scattered displacement, but as an inheritance passed down from Afghans of yesteryear to ourselves. Fragile, guarded heirlooms, testaments to the triumphs and travails of our past. For the glimpses afforded us by these portraits and vignettes of long ago, evince an oft-forgotten chapter of our history. The young men pictured here comprised some of Afghanistan’s sharpest and brightest minds; men who were born not into aristocracy, great wealth, or fame, but who had earned their place amongst the best of their day by sheer virtue of their scholastic achievements…..Show More
About the Editors
Bio
Jahan Shahryar is an attorney, entrepreneur, and nonprofit leader. A former corporate attorney at Skadden Arps, she now advises startups and mission-driven organizations through her legal practice. She co-founded Brune Kitchen, a heritage-inspired cookie brand sold in retailers nationwide and featured on the television series Side Hustlers, where the company won the largest investment from powerhouse duo Emma Grede and Ashley Graham.
She also founded Restore Her Voice, a nonprofit that helped evacuate and resettle high-risk Afghan women following the Taliban’s takeover, securing over $400,000 in grants and donations to support their education and career advancement. In 2022, People Magazine honored her with its Kindness Award for this work. Her efforts continue to center on empowering women and supporting ventures that bridge heritage and innovation.
Bio
Emal Dusst is a private equity executive. He is Managing Director and Head of ETS Capital, where he manages over $500M of capital and a portfolio of more than 15 global companies. He helped found Cintana Education in partnership with Arizona State University (ASU), a global education company with a presence in over 30 countries. Emal also serves as Vice Chair of the Board of American University of Afghanistan, co-founded the Alliance for the Education of Women in Afghanistan (AEWA), a nonprofit founded in partnership with ASU and UNHCR to expand access to education for Afghan girls and women, and co-founded the Canadian Virtual Medical University (CVMU), a nonprofit currently enabling more than 150 Afghan women to continue their medical school studies online. He is also a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).
