Laila Haidari is one self-described badass Afghan woman. She has to be when her work takes her deep beneath Kabul Bridge, to a place where Afghan women and men come to shoot up heroin and forget the hardships of their lives. Laila has made it her mission to provide much-needed treatment and housing to those willing to leave that life behind. To finance her work, she runs a restaurant that employs recovering addicts who live in her treatment facilities. Facing imminent bankruptcy, laughably inept government officials and even a death threat, her resolve to help those who cannot help themselves is tested time and again. As inspiring as it is heartbreaking, Laila at the Bridge honours a fierce woman and tireless protector in a country struggling with a massive epidemic. Aisha Jamal