For Laila, life in Murree is comfortable and peaceful. It is, in fact, exactly the life she used to dream for herself in her darkest days. Every day, Laila reminds herself of this.

Then one warm night in July 2002, while their children are asleep, Laila and her husband, Tariq, are lying in bed talking about all the changes back home.

Laila decides that now is the time to tell Tariq.

She has started hearing Dad’s voice in her head. You can be anything you want, Laila, he says. I know this about you. And I also know that when this war is over, Afghanistan is going to need you. Laila hears Mum’s voice too. I want to be there when Afghanistan is free. There is a part of Laila now that wants to return to Kabul, for Mum and Dad, for them to see it through her eyes.

And then, most importantly for Laila, there is Mariam. Did Mariam die for this? Laila asks herself. Did she sacrifice herself, so she, Laila could live in a foreign land? Maybe it wouldn’t matter to Mariam as long as she and the children were safe and happy. But it matters to Laila. Suddenly it matters very much.

“I want to go back,” she says.

“Back? To Kabul” he asks.

“Only if you want it too,’’

“Are you unhappy here? You seem happy. The children too.”

“I am happy,” Laila says. “Of course I am. But where do we go from here, Tariq? How long do we stay? This isn’t home. Kabul is, and back there so much is happening, a lot of it good. I want to be a part of it all. I want to do something for my country. Do you understand?”

Tariq nods slowly. “This is what you want, then? You’re sure?”

“But only-only-if you want to go too.w

“Me?” he says. “I’ll follow you to the end of the world, Laila.”

Since the age of 5,Laura Lee has had a strange habit—she collects cardboard toilet-paper rolls（厕所卷纸筒）. She didn’t know this habit would one day become a recycling movement.

In 2018,Lee set up a goal to collect 1,000 kilograms of these rolls. She was then a 16-year-old student at Nanyang Girls’ High School in Singapore. As of February 2021,she collected 860 kg. She received an Ecofriend Award from the Singapore government.

Why did she choose toilet rolls?“They are convenient to collect and also one of the purest forms of waste to recycle because they are made of only one material,” Lee told Singapore Today. “It’s more difficult to recycle pens because they are made up of too many different materials like rubber casings（橡胶外壳）,metals and plastics,which require more resources to separate（分离）.”

Lee went into a partnership with the waste management firm Veolia. The firm gave her money for every kilogram of toilet rolls.

She organized “toilet roll challenges” within her school and worked with cleaners to collect used toilet rolls. She gave speeches about what she was doing at local schools. She also raises awareness（意识）about different social groups through her Instagram Live series,“On A Roll”.

One big challenge Lee faces is others doubting her because of her young age.“I always have toy use my actions to prove that I’m passionate（有热情的）and know about this,” she said. She will donate the money collected to a social cause focused on community health.