Murtaza
Jafari
From a boat in the Aegean Sea, praying to survive the next thirty minutes — to building a free tech school for 600 Afghan women. This is what gratitude looks like at scale.
“My family is scattered across the world. Everyone is in a corner. I have not seen them in twelve years. I have been living alone for twelve years. But when I see my students happy — that is everything. That is what it feels like to be a human being.”
A Boy Who Had Never Left His Province
Murtaza Jafari grew up in Central Afghanistan, in the province where he was born. He had never left it. He was a little boy when he made a decision that would define the rest of his life — to go.
His family is now scattered across the world. Pieces of one family, each in a different corner of the earth. Twelve years have passed. He has not seen them since.
He has been living alone for twelve years.
“I had to take a risk of my life if I wanted to make a change.”
Working to Survive. Looking for a Way Out.
In Iran, there was work — factories, construction sites. There was survival. But there was no future. No path forward. No possibility of a life that was anything more than endurance.
He looked at what was in front of him and made a calculation. Staying was a slow kind of dying. Moving was a risk — but it was the only risk that contained any hope.
Days Without Food. Months in Closed Camps.
Turkey was full of danger. He went anyway. Days passed with little or nothing to eat. Refugee detention camps. Months of uncertainty. The kind of waiting that doesn't feel like waiting — it feels like disappearing.
But he stayed. And eventually, he faced the next decision: where to go from here. He didn't know. He asked the people around him. Someone said: Greece.
“I just wanted not to die for the next 30 minutes. That was all I wanted in the middle of the sea.”
Thirty Minutes. Just Don't Die for Thirty Minutes.
He had never been on a boat. He didn't know what Greece was, really. He boarded anyway, with the others, into the Aegean Sea.
In the middle of the water, surrounded by strangers, he made himself one small prayer: just survive the next thirty minutes. That was all. Not a future, not a plan. Just the next thirty minutes.
He survived them.
“I had no idea about the language. But I understood the language of kindness.”
I Forgot Every Pain on the Way.
When he stepped onto Lesbos, something unexpected happened. Care. Support. Kindness — from strangers who owed him nothing. He had no Greek, no English, no money, nothing.
He understood none of the words. He understood all of the meaning.
For the first time in a very long time, he was safe.
Late by Four Hours. Homeless for a Week.
He was transferred to a minor shelter in Thessaloniki, where he lived for four months. He visited a friend one day. He missed the last train back. He arrived four hours late.
The shelter rules were the shelter rules. He was not allowed back in.
He slept on the streets of Thessaloniki for a week. Then he found a way to Athens.
“I went to my teacher and asked how to turn on the computer. He said: press this for a second, it will turn on. That was the start.”
Press This Button. It Will Turn On.
Athens started in a park — sleeping on a bench for a couple of days. Then a shelter in central Athens. Then, through that shelter, something that changed everything: Social Hackers Academy.
A Greek teacher enrolled him in a computer coding course. He had to learn English at the same time. And Greek. And go to school. All simultaneously, starting from nothing.
He remembers going to his coding teacher one day and asking how to turn on the computer.
The teacher said: press this button for a second. It will turn on.
That was the start.
“I trained her for seven months with whatever I knew. She is now a developer.”
The First Afghan Coding YouTuber. In Dari.
A year or two after arriving, he started a YouTube channel — Afghan Geeks — creating coding tutorials in Dari. He was the first Afghan YouTuber making coding content in his own language.
On May 1, 2021, Afghanistan fell. The Taliban returned. Women were banned from education, from work, from public life. His sisters could no longer go to school.
He made a post on his personal social media: free mentoring for anyone who needs it. A young woman contacted him. She said she needed help with coding.
He took her in. He trained her for seven months — with everything he knew. She is now a developer. She freelances. She earns her own income, from inside Afghanistan.
“The students who learned on the platform built the platform.”
30 Students. 28 Finished. 4 Joined the Team.
He learned something from those seven months: project-based learning works. So he announced a free seven-month coding course. Within two weeks, fifty applications arrived.
He interviewed every one of them. He accepted thirty. Twenty-eight completed the full program.
Four of those students went on to work with him. Two of them are still on the Afghan Geeks team today. Together, they built the LMS — the learning platform that now serves 600+ students.
The students who learned on the platform built the platform.
“When I see how happy they are, that is everything. That is what it feels like to be a human being.”
600+ Students. Two Communities. One Reason.
Afghan Geeks Education now has over 600 active students on a custom AI-powered LMS, built by the graduates it trained. Teachers are Afghan women based inside Afghanistan, teaching in Dari, with no camera requirements — because he respects their culture and their choice.
And because Greece gave him something when he had nothing, he is building the same programme for refugees in Greece — the same free education, the same open door, the same belief that where you come from should not determine how far you go.
When he watches his students learn — when he sees how happy they are — he says that is everything. That is what it feels like to be a human being. He sleeps well. He wakes up with more energy.
He is still alone in Athens. His family is still scattered across the world. He has not seen them for twelve years.
He keeps going.
From One Student
to 600.
A teacher gave Murtaza a free coding course.
Now he gives it to 600 women.
One act of generosity changed the course of a life. One donation funds a student's entire program — tuition, mentorship, and career support. The cycle continues because people like you choose to keep it going.
As Seen In
AP News
Aug 6, 2025
How Afghan women under Taliban rule are coding their way to a brighter future
The Independent
Aug 7, 2025
Afghanistan: Women pursue coding courses online amid Taliban education ban
Star Tribune
Aug 6, 2025
Afghan women turn to online courses as the Taliban bans education
InfoMigrants
Aug 29, 2025
Empowering women in Afghanistan: An Afghan migrant in Greece offers online coding classes
