Afghan Allied Funding: A New Life

"My friend....I am going to finalize it today. We will make for the airport... we will have a good life or die."

That text message came 10 days before the picture above came to me; taken here, in Virginia.

The photo is Ismat Sherzad and his family. My name is Tim Stebbins and I've set up this GoFundMe in support of my dear friend. I ask you to help me in my effort to help them.

Our Story

Ismat and I met in 2009. We worked together in northeastern Afghanistan. From the outset he was gracious, warm, and welcoming. I was fresh to the environment of Afghanistan, and Ismat always kept an eye out for me as I got my feet wet. He never hesitated to take great personal risks in order to build Afghanistan anew, and together we worked on many different programs. I sponsored him for the SIV program in 2017, yet by the time Kabul fell two weeks ago, all he'd heard in 5 years was an update with a case number.

Here is his story; while it is one of thousands, it brings the experience of so many brave Afghans to life, and now we have a chance to thank him:

At 12:22PM on August 15th, I received a message on Facebook: "Tim, Kabul and all other provinces collapsed." "Where are you?" I asked. "Home. Surrounded by Taliban."

None of us could fathom it.

For the next few days, neither of us slept much. We'd both nap with our phones on our chest, and we sifted through rumors in a dizzying effort to chart a path through the fog of war. Ismat tried to get to the airport gates half a dozen times, dodging Taliban checkpoints, gunfire and beatings. As many times, he was forced to turn back.

Then early in the morning of August 24th, I received that message: "Tim....I am going to finalize it today. We will make for the airport... we will have a good life or die."

Fumbling for words, I wrote back. "Take courage my friend. I will see you again, in this life or the next."

"Okay Tim. Thanks for any thing....Inshallah, see you in this life."

A few hours later, Ismat called. I struggled to hear his voice over the sounds of chaos. People screamed in the background, Marines shouted to each other and to the crowd, and gunfire from nearby Taliban guards was fired to force people back.

Then I heard it. " Tim...Tim! We are inside!" Then he had to hang up. But nothing more needed to be said.

My friend and 5 members of his family made it out of hell.

Now, they are in Virginia, and they have nothing to their name but the clothes on their back and $32 in cash.

I ask for your support to help give them a fresh start. I feel it needs to be said: 100% of these funds will go to Ismat and his family, for clothes, food, rent, a car and insurance. He will need a suit for job interviews, furniture for their home. He will need English lessons for his wife and children and countless other costs neither of us have even wrapped our minds around yet.

Please help me show this courageous man that -- whatever you think of the American government's decision -- the American people are with him, and the American dream is alive and well.

Thank you,