Mursal Rahim, ELP ’23

This article was originally published in the Spring 2023 edition of the Chatham Recorder Alumni Magazine by Cara Gillotti. To view more digital Recorder stories, click here.

By August 2021, the Islamic fundamentalist group known as the Taliban had reseized control of Afghanistan. 

On the 19th of that month, Mursal Rahim, 26, along with her parents and six siblings, became refugees. 

“We had an hour to say goodbye to everything and go,” says Mursal. “We came with a backpack only. We left everything behind. Everything.”

The Rahims boarded a flight, starting a journey that would lead, for Mursal and her younger sister Marwa, to Chatham University. 

From Afghanistan, the Rahims traveled first to Doha, Qatar, then to Mexico City, then finally to Houston, where Mursal and her sister stayed for a year. It was her first time in the United States. “It was completely different,” she says. “Everything—culture, food, language, relationships. We were struggling with our English, and it wasn’t good enough to apply for scholarships to universities. But we didn’t want to give up on study.” Mursal had an undergraduate law degree from Afghanistan, and Marwa had a medical degree. 

Enter Chatham. 

In the summer of 2022, Chatham President David Finegold began working with Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the City of Asylum to try to address what they saw as the growing refugee crisis for Ukraine and Afghanistan. 

Mursal Rahim, ELP ’23

“Through that partnership, we were approached by the New York Times about a set of families and individuals they had worked with in Afghanistan whom they had helped get out of the country and come to the United States,” explains President Finegold. “They identified three students—Mursal, Marwa, and Omar Ahmadi—who had all completed first degrees in Afghanistan, but who needed some additional English language support. Chatham was identified as a best option for them among the Pittsburgh schools, and the whole team worked together to handle the admissions process very quickly, so they were all able to start this fall in our English Language Program, where they’ve been doing very well. I had a chance to meet all three of them shortly after they arrived, and they’re really wonderful members of the community, and we’re grateful for this opportunity.” 

Once at Chatham, Mursal studied English full-time. Then her professor said that her English had improved enough for her to take academic classes. This semester, she is studying business and intercultural communications. How’s it going? “I think I’m okay with intercultural communication,” says Mursal, “but this is the first time I’m taking a business class. It’s a little bit difficult for me, but I’m learning, and as long as I’m learning, I’m happy with it.” 

Mursal reports that it has been easy to make friends at Chatham. “I made most of my friends at orientation day,” she says. “Before I didn’t have any American friends—I lived in Houston for one year, but all my friends were refugees or Afghans. I’ve also made friends in the classes. People are friendly and nice. When they learned I was coming from Afghanistan, they were super nice.” 

Some things have been surprising for Mursal. “When I was in Afghanistan, I met only people who were from Afghanistan” she says. “When I came here, I saw diversity. For example, I had never been friends with someone who is LGBT. I respect all people, but I didn’t meet those people. It was a little bit of culture shock for me, born and raised in an Islamic country, where if you are a person like this, you can’t say it publicly. You have to keep it private.” 

I ask Mursal what she likes to do for fun. “To be honest, I don’t like going out!” she laughs. “I spend most of the time in my dorm. I watch movies, I read books, and sometimes I like to cook. I like to learn new skills. I want to learn calligraphy, and sometimes I practice that, and sometimes I go out with my sister, because she’s always telling me how boring I am!” 

“When I meet someone, they don’t think I’m Afghan,” says Mursal. “They think I’m Arab. When I talk with people, they’re so surprised when I say that I went to school in Afghanistan. They say, ‘Ok, Afghanistan is about the Taliban, the women are wearing burkas’, and I say ‘No, I came from an educated family; my father was a university professor, and my mother was working, I did my bachelor’s degree in law, and my younger sister was doing medical school.’ The country was growing. Women were working; my friends started businesses. We had so many women doctors.

“But when I talk with American friends, they think Afghanistan is a country where they banned women from everything. Right now, yes, but not before.” 

Mursal is applying for graduate school in human rights or public policy, eyeing in particular the University of Pittsburgh or Cornell University. “I want to work in the law field, because I have the experience, or with an international organization that works for refugees, women’s rights, or children’s rights,” she says. “I really, really want to work with the UN. It was my dream even when I was in Afghanistan, because they support poor countries.” 

“Mursal is a lovely young woman who shares Chatham’s commitment around social justice and wanting to be a champion for women’s leadership and gender equity, and so I think she resonated well with the values of Chatham,” says President Finegold. “I was really impressed by her and her sister.”

It’s an appreciation that goes both ways. “I love Chatham!” says Mursal. “I really appreciate the chance that Chatham gave us. I was about to give up on studying. Everyone told us you can find scholarships in the U.S., but it was difficult to get financial support. We didn’t have that much money, and my parents are not working. So if I want to study, I have to work for many years, learn English, and then start my study.

“But when I received the chance (to study at Chatham), I was so happy. I found hope.” 

The New York Times wrote about Mursal’s, Marwa’s and Omar’s journeys. Read those stories here. To support Afghan students at Chatham, click here.

Pulse@ChathamU Editor’s Note: In the print edition of the Chatham Recorder Spring 2023, Marwa Rahim’s first name was incorrectly written as “Murwa.” We apologize for our error and will print a correction in the Winter 2023 issue of the Chatham Recorder. We have corrected the error in the digital Pulse piece above.