“I want to be an engineer and help Afghanistan become a more developed country,” says Naib, a student in Class Eight at the Roots of Peace School in Mir Bacha Kot in the Kabul Province of Afghanistan. He is responding to a question posed by photographer Ruvan Wijesooriya, who asked Naib and his classmates about their hopes for the future while making their portraits for the school yearbook.

Normally, a yearbook is a keepsake for students, teachers, and their families. But for this school in Afghanistan, where education is not a guarantee for everyone, a yearbook symbolizes a triumph. I spoke with Wijesooriya, the creator of the project “Yearbook Afghanistan” by phone and email to find out why