(September 20, 2011) Twenty-year-old Malalai Abdali, a resident of Kandahar, was yearning to tell stories and explore life through photography, but due to cultural expectations and volatile security, there was no outlet for her creativity. Then Malalai had the opportunity to take a three day media and photography workshop conducted by Internews’ Afghan Media Development and Empowerment Project (AMDEP) as part of the Afghan Youth Festival program.

The photographs that resulted from her training showcase Malalai’s creativity as well as the restricted boundaries she lives with in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, where women are usually housebound with no opportunities to go out to explore their city.

In an effort to illuminate community issues, Malalai photographed her subjects through the mesh of her burka. “The training has caused my creativity to blossom and now I know how to tell good stories with my camera.”