Earth, Wind and Fire
Defiant ashes rise from gasping flame, asserting vital Agency; Memory and inherited…
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From Matchbox
We Are Here: Writings by Afghan Women
Fire
Gasping flame gives way to defiant ashes, awaiting its inevitable, brilliant rebirth.
September 22, 2025
The flame that once gasped and fluttered.
The flame that once relented to the storms around her.
The flame that turned into embers, a ghost of its original brilliance.
The flame that allowed this world to slowly extinguish and suffocate her.
That trembling flame burned herself to ashes, until nothing was left but to be reborn.
This unrelenting resolve was in you, little flame.
Forgotten, but never silenced.
Waiting to be remembered,
reignited and reunited
with your
Eternal
light.
📖
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Sajia Ebrahimi
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the Soviet invasion, Sajia Ebrahimi spent her formative years surviving war before fleeing as a refugee to Pakistan and India. Her family eventually immigrated to Canada, where she earned two undergraduate degrees while confronting personal struggles of trauma, survival, and identity. Later, residing in the Netherlands, she completed a master's in Language and Literature, honing her voice against erasure. She has taught writing and communication at both secondary and post-secondary levels. Her life and work testify to resistance—against inherited trauma, oppressive systems, and the silencing of marginalized narratives. Through writing, she excavates truth and inherent self-dignity, challenging familial, social, and political programming to reclaim selfhood and community. She currently resides in Canada. https://www.instagram.com/freedomandpen/