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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. You're welcome to stuff.

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Speaker 1: I've never told your protection of I heart radio. All right,

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Speaker 1: any Yes, I have to ask you, have you ever

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Speaker 1: attempted to make an android or a robot or anything

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Speaker 1: like this? Ah, that is such a good question. I

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Speaker 1: want to ask that randomly to everybody. Have you ever

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Speaker 1: attempted to make an android? It is a good test.

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Speaker 1: So I have tried to build a robot. I used

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Speaker 1: to volunteer at this big event Georgia Tech had where

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Speaker 1: I was a robotics event for high schoolers and I

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Speaker 1: tried to build a robot at that. It was successful,

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Speaker 1: but not very good. I will say that it was

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Speaker 1: slow and fell over a lot, but it worked. But

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Speaker 1: my little brother, who my little brother is somebody when

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Speaker 1: you ask him what he does. In the back of

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Speaker 1: your head, you're thinking, should I be concerned about this?

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Speaker 1: Because he used to work He worked on AI, but

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Speaker 1: he used to work for this very who I thought

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Speaker 1: was a very mysterious kind of Tony Stark esque command

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Speaker 1: where he would build robots for him and I would

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Speaker 1: observe and learn and hear about those stories. And to

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Speaker 1: this day I'm unclear, but he built like a robot

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Speaker 1: that could like dunk, not dunk, but he could play basketball.

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Speaker 1: That's the one I remember the most robot basketball. That

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Speaker 1: was amazing because I I definitely have never made a robot.

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Speaker 1: I've only used those connect things. I think what I'm

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Speaker 1: talking about where you canna build little machines, but it

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Speaker 1: doesn't really come to life, which is my fear. As

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Speaker 1: we know, I have a fear of things coming to

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Speaker 1: live in an objects coming to life. But today we're

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Speaker 1: talking about some amazing young women in Afghanistan. Actual robotics

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Speaker 1: team known as the Afgan Dreamers as they named themselves,

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Speaker 1: led by eighteen year old Samaya Pleruki, Semia Ferruki and

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Speaker 1: several other young women, were charged with developing a prototype

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Speaker 1: ventilator during the pandemic and through the use of spare

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Speaker 1: car parts, Ingenuity and Education then created a prototype that

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Speaker 1: they were able to present an exhibition in December where

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Speaker 1: many were present, including key ministers, policymakers, parliamentarians and Unit

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Speaker 1: supt Members. Right, and they were actually invited with five

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Speaker 1: other teams to come and show off their projects. So

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Speaker 1: it was a big deal and the all female Afghana

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Speaker 1: robotics team worked for over four months and developing a

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Speaker 1: ventilator partly based on an m I T design and

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Speaker 1: with a little assistance from experts and funding from the

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Speaker 1: Minister of Industry and Commerce, Farukei and her team finalized

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Speaker 1: the device that can run ten hours on battery power

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Speaker 1: and cause significantly less than your typical ventilator which is

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Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars, So their product is lightweight and only

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Speaker 1: costs seven hundred dollars. It's a very big difference and

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Speaker 1: at once approved, will be distributed all of the country

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Speaker 1: and even maybe internationally. The team is made up of

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Speaker 1: girls between the ages of fourteen to eighteen from different

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Speaker 1: high schools in Herat. They came together every day after

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Speaker 1: school where they would meet up for an hour or

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Speaker 1: so to learn all about robotics and programming, and they're

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Speaker 1: the only all girls robotic team to design a low

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Speaker 1: cost fan the latter in Afghanistan. Fruki said, there are

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Speaker 1: a lot of people in our community and across Afghanistan

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Speaker 1: that think that only boys should be mechanics, but I

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Speaker 1: don't know why, because girls can be mechanics also. They

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Speaker 1: just need their society to believe in them and have

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Speaker 1: the support of their family and then they will prove it.

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Speaker 1: It was always a goal of mine to prove it,

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Speaker 1: and she shared dead and she did talk about her

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Speaker 1: passion for them and how she was influenced by supports

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Speaker 1: like her parents. She reminisced about watching her father fixing

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Speaker 1: and working on different vehicles at the repair shop he

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Speaker 1: owned in Harat and her home in western Afghanistan. She stated, quote,

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Speaker 1: his work is what got me interested in mechanics and engineering.

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Speaker 1: And through these experiences and helping and assisting her father,

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Speaker 1: she learned how things work in a very simple sense.

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Speaker 1: But I always wanted to learn more and have access

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Speaker 1: to more knowledge in this area. And she spoke about

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Speaker 1: her mother's ongoing encouragement and her continuing her education. Ferugie's

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Speaker 1: mother had had to leave school at an early age

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Speaker 1: due to the band on girls education by the Taliban.

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Speaker 1: She stated in regards to her mother, quote, I think

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Speaker 1: this is why she supports me as much as she does,

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Speaker 1: because she can see that I'm doing what she never

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Speaker 1: got to do. Now she tells me how much I

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Speaker 1: inspire her, and She's definitely been inspiring so many people.

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Speaker 1: But Ferouki's mentor, who helped sponsor the robotics team. Royal

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Speaker 1: Maboub stated, quote in the West, kids are having conversations

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Speaker 1: about how robotics are replacing people in the workforce. But

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Speaker 1: the problem is Afghanistan is so far behind, is behind

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Speaker 1: in the education system. What is the point in training

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Speaker 1: girls for jobs that barely exist for women now and

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Speaker 1: likely won't exist when they finished their studies. And I'm

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Speaker 1: talking about preparing these girls for real opportunities in their future.

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Speaker 1: And Maboo is no stranger to making history through technology.

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Speaker 1: She was named Time Magazines quote one hundred most influential

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Speaker 1: people in the world for her work with Digital Citizen

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Speaker 1: Founder d c F, which she founded to help girls

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Speaker 1: and women around the world access technology, including building Internet

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Speaker 1: classrooms in Afghanistan. Right, she's a big wig. So in

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Speaker 1: twenty thirteen she was given this title, and she has

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Speaker 1: been working really hard and actually has her own business

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Speaker 1: in Afghanistan and so has been a powerful influence for

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Speaker 1: the girls as well as Feruki. So it's phenomenal to

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Speaker 1: see and she actually goes on if you want to

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Speaker 1: find the article she has written in about how mentorship

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Speaker 1: has been a big part of that and how her

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Speaker 1: relationship with Feruki has developed and what it looks like

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Speaker 1: for them in Afghanistan and how they've influenced the women

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Speaker 1: and the young girls to take part and become interested

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Speaker 1: in the world of STEM. So definitely need to uh

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Speaker 1: lock her up because she may be one of the

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Speaker 1: other ones that we feature. But of course we had

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Speaker 1: to give a shout out today and Farukie was quoted

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Speaker 1: in her profile with you and women quote. I believe

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Speaker 1: that gender equality is a human right. Women are half

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Speaker 1: the population. They need to have the same right as men.

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Speaker 1: Steam and education is essential for economic growth and future jobs,

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Speaker 1: and women and girls should be involved at an early age.

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Speaker 1: Equality is important for everyone, regardless of gender. We can

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Speaker 1: all contribute to this cause by our actions towards of

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Speaker 1: women and girls in our own lives, including wives, daughters

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Speaker 1: and employees, make it a better place for them. I

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Speaker 1: love this. I love the examples of mentorship and women

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Speaker 1: supporting women and just young women getting out there and

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Speaker 1: say you know what, I want to prove it. I

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Speaker 1: wanna prove that women can do this. You can't, can't.

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Speaker 1: I love seeing that they are so ready. And of

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Speaker 1: course these ventilators were brought in during the time that

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Speaker 1: COVID has hit afghanistand so hard, and the fact that

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Speaker 1: they're very limited and getting supplies like ventilators, and that's

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Speaker 1: why they were charged in doing so, because of course

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Speaker 1: they not everyone can afford a twenty dollar ventilator in

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Speaker 1: their hospital, and we know how access is limited for

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Speaker 1: different parts of the world. Even in the US, we've

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Speaker 1: seen that as a problem, and so to find a

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Speaker 1: way to do something that could save so many lives

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Speaker 1: in an affordable manner is phenomenal. And that it's by

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Speaker 1: these young women even bigger of course, and the recognition

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Speaker 1: they're given and they've earned essentially, and how it is

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Speaker 1: pushing them to continue to do more and they continue

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Speaker 1: to serve their country and to continue to serve their people,

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Speaker 1: And it's uh wow, like I couldn't imagine, you know.

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Speaker 1: I asked the last time for our last women around

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Speaker 1: the world, what we thought we were going to be

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Speaker 1: doing at thirty two. No way what I thought, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: eighteen year old could definitely change the scope of the

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Speaker 1: world in medicine by creating a low cost ventilator like that.

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Speaker 1: That was not the scope of my ideas of what

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Speaker 1: I would do at eighteen mm hmm. It's astounding and

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Speaker 1: it's it speaks to what she said about how we

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Speaker 1: need to we need to show women that people in

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Speaker 1: our lives, of of all genders, that you can do

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Speaker 1: this and these are options for you, and make sure

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Speaker 1: that those options are available. Huh yes, like an under humor, Right,

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Speaker 1: I kind of want to go revisit my whole robots

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Speaker 1: and then you've got a challenge your hand. I think

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Speaker 1: so right at the end, as quarantine is slowly easy, slowly,

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Speaker 1: I know I'll build a robot. Please, listeners, if you

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Speaker 1: have any suggestions for women we should be covering on

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Speaker 1: this segment, send them to us our emails Stuff Needia,

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Speaker 1: mom Stuff at i art media dot com. You can

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Speaker 1: find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or on

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Speaker 1: Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks as always

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Speaker 1: to our super producer Christina. Thank you Christina, and thanks

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Speaker 1: to you for listening Stuff I Never Told You. Protection

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Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the Heart Radio ap Apple Podcast, or wherever you

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