I am sure most of you have came accross this stunning picture of a girl named Sharbat gulla. The green eyed girl who became famous when her picture was published on the cover of National Geographic magazine almost 3 decade ago soon became famous and international icon after the picture stunned millions of hearts. Her eyes reflect the tough life during the soviet war.
When the picture became famous, people started looking for her, they wanted to know who the girl was, there were a lot of international expenditions for finding the green eyed girl. It was after almost 5 years that she was found in the refugee camps in Pakistan.
The shinness in her eyes remains the same through out the war, however her worn out skin shows how cruel life must have been to her. Since her childhood in war camps to this day being in camps as a refugee hasn't been easy and shows the long time effects of war.
The Reunion with photographer after 30 Years:
The reunion of the green eyed girl and the photographer was quiet. On the subject of married women, cultural tradition is strict. She cannot look into the eyes of a person who is not her husband or smile. She did not smile at McCurry. Her expression, he said, was flat. She cannot understand how her picture has touched so many. She doesn't know the power of those green eyes.
Such a low odds that she would be alive. That she could endure such loss. Surely, in the face of such bitterness the spirit could atrophy. How, she was asked, had she survived?
The answer came wrapped in unshakable certitude.
“It was,” said Sharbat Gula, “the will of God.”
Ms. Gula was arrested by the Pakistani authorities two weeks ago on charges of obtaining false identity documents, a common practice among Afghans in Pakistan, who have been subjected to roundups and arbitrary arrests in efforts to force them to return to Afghanistan. She hasn't received any funding or aid from the international agencies yet and is living a miserable life.
Her picture will be there to remind us of the horrors war have caused to her from the early childhood.
The afghan war was the end of cold war era, it left million of people killed, wounded, displaced and homeless. The war dragged on for a lengthy 10 year period from 1979-1989.
Some articles for further reading:
- https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/world/asia/afghan-girl-sharbat-gula-afghanistan-pakistan.html
- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37923826
- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2002/04/afghan-girl-revealed/