HERAT, Afghanistan — A group of young Afghan women in the deeply conservative Herat province is breaking traditional barriers as the country’s first female coders in an overwhelmingly male-dominated field.
The game they created underscores Afghanistan’s struggle to eradicate vast opium poppy fields ruled by the Taliban.
For 20-year-old Khatera Mohammadi, a student at the Code to Inspire computer training centre, it’s more than just a game: “Fight against Opium” was based on her brother’s real-life experience.
Mohammadi recounted to The Associated Press recently that “each time he came back home, he would tell us about the poppy fields, the terrible mine blasts, battling opium traffickers and drugs.”
She and her colleagues at the centre thought that if they create a game, it would raise awareness, especially among the young.