Daughter of former Afghan interpreter has a dream of her own: to become a doctor

Every dream starts somewhere.

Aisha traces her dream back to when she was a kid.

She was born and raised in Afghanistan. Aisha and her family made it to Cape Coral last week after escaping the Taliban rule. Her father Frank was an interpreter for a Green Beret from Cape Coral who helped him flee his home country.

Aisha’s dream is to become a heart surgeon.

“I didn’t know how to talk in English, or how to read in English or how to, I don’t know anything in English. But then my father just give me a graded science book,” Aisha said.

To make her dream come true, Aisha said she comes home and practices her English with her dad.

She said when she reads and she comes across a word she doesn’t understand, she underlines it, highlights it and writes it down a couple of times, then looks up the definition and also writes that down too.

Her dad also helps her.

“He starts with me from the first page … how to learn English by myself, like alone without any courses and videos, any teachers or anything.”

She hopes to help her dad with his heart condition after she becomes a doctor.

“For sure, I have a some heart problem,” Frank said. “We don’t have that much health facility to go into check what’s wrong with me? So I’ve never been in hospital.”

Aisha said her dad really needed a doctor.

“That motivates me more and more to study on via doctor as soon as possible,” Aisha said.

In Afghanistan, Aisha was told that her brothers could become doctors but she could not.

“He’s going to be a doctor,” Aisha said. “He’s going to be that engineer. He’s going to be blah blah blah. Why haven’t you choose anything for me? Then I become jealous. Then I become like, so angry. I will be a heart doctor before him and I will prove myself to you that I can do it.”

Frank said he is optimistic about his daughter achieving her dream.

“She has energy and she’s like, eager to learn and to make progress,” Frank said.