As he was driving me home from Marin Sunday morning, I asked my Lyft driver where he had grown up.
“Afghanistan.”
He was surprised when I told him that I used to live there. It’s been over 50 years ago now since I was in Afghanistan teaching English as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
“Ah, that was our golden age,” he remarked. Indeed, at that time the country was ruled by a Western-educated monarch who believed in developing democracy. The government placed a premium on education for all boys and girls; thus the presence of Peace Corps teachers as part of that effort.
Alas, the intervening decades have not been kind to Afghanistan, nor to its hopes for a democratic future, let alone achieving an educated population. These days, girls are not allowed to even go to school by the Taliban government and women are forbidden to hold jobs.
My driver told me he fears for his sisters, one of whom was about to enter college and study medicine when the Taliban came to power in 2021. Now she and her younger sister are trapped at home with their parents, unable to pursue their educations or get jobs…or even leave their compound unaccompanied.
He told me he sends money home every month to support them from his work for Lyft. I’m sure that is difficult because he also supports his wife and three young children on this income. They all live in a small apartment near Sacramento; every day he drives to the Bay Area for this work.
He said he dreams of finding an old farmhouse on a small plot of land where his family could live and raise crops. He also dreams od getting his family members out of Afghanistan.
The last time I checked, the average Lyft driver makes around $32,000 a year. That is barely enough to cover the cost of housing around here. But compared to Afghanistan it is a virtual fortune.
Figures are hard to come by, but the average Afghan makes somewhere around $1,800 a year, if he can find work at all. And women, of course, are forbidden from working at any job outside of the home.
As he dropped me off, I wished my driver well. “خدا با شما باشد” I said in Dari, which roughly translates as “God be with you.” Also, I added in English,“Good luck!” But I know he will need a lot more than luck for his dreams to come true.
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