In 1984, National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry was stationed at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to cover the war in Afghanistan and the fleeing refugees to Pakistan. Upon hearing children's laughter coming from one of the refugee tents in Pakistan, he came across a "makeshift classroom for an all-girls school" (Hajek). It was here that he saw the girl with the green eyes. She covered her face with her hands at first, but her teacher asked her to put her hands down so that "the world would see her face and know her story" (Hajek). Staring straight into McCurry's lens, she became this powerfully iconic subject and one of the most popular covers of the magazine.
Seventeen years later, McCurry went back to find her. Her name is Sharbat Gula, and her piercing eyes still portray the hard life she has led. Both of her parents died in the Soviet bombing when she was a child. With her grandmother and siblings, she fled to Pakistan by foot across the mountains. Around the middle of the 1990's, after living in refugee camps, she went home to her village in the foothills of the mountains (Newman). Sharbat Gula is married with three children, and she wants the education for them that she never finished. As per their cultural traditions, Steve McCurry and Sharbat Gula's reunion was quiet (Newman).
Her life has not been easy, and we can see that in her portrait. But, her face alone has inspired other people around the world to help refugees (Newman). She is the ultimate portrayal of the phrase I've heard numerous times: it's in the eyes. We are drawn to them. They hold so much of who we are. That's something I find entirely overwhelming about photography. I think when photographers truly capture humanity, what actually happens is humanity captures us.
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