Help K Escape Taliban Oppression for Education

Here is something you can do!

With your help we can rescue a brilliant young Afghan woman whose life is in danger under the oppression of the Taliban.

I became a mentor to K ( I am not using her full name because of fear for her life) through an organization in Rhode Island helping girls in Afghanistan to survive the dangerous conditions for women there and to give them hope for a better life and an education in a free country.

After speaking with K several times a week for the last 10 months, I have come to know her very well. K is a very smart, insightful, courageous young women. She is self-motivated and has a clear sense of the goals she wishes to achieve. K has a high degree of intellectual curiosity and is very diligent in her studies at home. She speaks, writes and reads books in English . She is also an accomplished artist. Those are her sketches in the photo. K is maintaining her hopes of becoming a teacher and helping others someday, particularly other girls in Afghanistan.

I also recognized from our conversations the degree of danger K is in. She describes her friends being kidnapped and other girls living in these terrible conditions that they have committed suicide. K is confined to her house with her large family, and rather than become despondent K uses her time studying, writing in her journal and drawing. Her hopes and dreams to be able to study for a degree in Education have begun to be realized.

K has been offered admission to Waikato University in New Zealand.

What she desperately needs now are the funds to pay for this educational opportunity. Though the full cost is much more, at this time we are hoping to collect $25,000.00 for her first year. This includes her room and board. If we receive more, we will use it for the cost of her education in the following years.

My name is Donna S. Vanderbeck and I live Rhode Island, USA. I am K’s mentor and friend. All the money collected will go directly to Waikato University, in Hamiliton, New Zealand for K’s first year of education including her room and board.

Can you please contribute to saving this girls life and making her dreams of being a free educated woman who wants to help others come true?

In a world full of so many people in danger and in need, here is something you can do!

Please,

Here is K’s voice,

I have always loved learning new things and new skills. I was busy at my school, helping with the student council and helping other students to learn reading and writing. I was thinking about my dreams and my future. Then the Taliban came back and all the schools were closed for girls. Those days were the start of our nightmares. Step by step the Taliban closed all opportunities that were open for girls. We can not go outside. They are taking girls to unknown places. It was not the first time the Taliban came to our country. It was the second time. The first time that they came, they changed our country to a ruin. Our mothers are illiterate because of them. I was afraid of all the things that happened to our mothers and if we give up it would happen to us also. My mother is always in regret of her dreams and I do not want this to happen to me. That was when I stand up and I said to myself to not give up. If I give up I would do what exactly they want. I started searching for the opportunities that help me rescue myself from this situation. I was in a situation where girls were committing suicide or forced into arranged marriages. The days were going by and I could not do anything but stay at home and try to learn to rescue myself. I was reading books, watching educational videos on Youtube, drawing and etc. I was working on my English and other skills to help me in this way. Fortunately, it was during those bad days that I met dear Miss Donna and she became my mentor and was so willing to help me. Whenever I had some question and I needed some help she was there for me. I worked hard and now I have been offered admission to Waikato University in New Zealand. I need to pay the tuition but my family and I do not have the money. In Afghanistan the economic situation is very bad. I need help to pay the tuition. It is very hard for me to ask for money from people but I really need it and I wish one day I would have the situation to help people that are like me.

Many thanks

Please help.

K