Inspired by Her Mother
Her role model in life is her mom, who has endured big challenges to send her daughter to the best schools the family could afford in Afghanistan. Masiha owes it to her mom that she has become the dedicated, hard-working person she wanted to be. Her mom worked for Care International, one of many agencies working in Afghanistan.
Masiha is today pursuing her dream of getting a degree in computer science from a U.S. university, a dream she started in India after she had been granted a scholarship to study computer science.
“I decided to go to India to have a more renowned university degree. I thought that would open more doors for me and help me secure a better job after graduation,” Masiha describes. But two years down the road, after finishing her second year in college, Masiha got the biggest news: She had won a lottery visa to move to the U.S. Her parents were determined that Masiha grab this opportunity.
She was able to finish her third year in Pune University, India, taking online classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic that brought life to a standstill. This offered some leeway for her to work a side job as a cashier to support herself and pay for her tuition. Then, in 2020, Masiha immigrated to Houston, Texas, and eventually, her family was able to join her.
When Masiha’s father was transferred to a hospital after having a heart attack, she says her knowledge of medical terminology was not enough to understand what the cardiologist was saying. “I stood there admiring inside how that Afghan medical interpreter mastered the flow of speech, how he mastered all the technical and medical words in both languages. I felt that I needed to take my education one step further,” she elaborates. “It takes the right person to interpret the right message at the right time. And I wanted to become that right person.”
Masiha plans to be Dari/English medical interpreter, but also speaks Turkish and Urdu. She says she always helped interpret for foreign teachers who worked in Afghanistan schools.
Meanwhile, Masiha’s mom is still helping other Afghan refugees, especially women, explore the American culture and apply for jobs or driver’s licenses.
“It is like shining a light in a dark road, telling others you have their backs, and together we can succeed,” Masiha says.
Learn more about the InterpreterEd.com Afghanistan Scholarship program here.
