URGENT: Help Afghan Refugee Zaafirah Get a Home
Zaafirah (name changed for security) is a young Afghan woman stranded in a Third World country after escaping Afghanistan with nothing but the clothes on her back, along with her brother, his wife, and their toddler. Before the Taliban took over, Zaafirah was tutored in English with dreams of attending college to become a nurse. Many friends in California and around the country donated to her expenses a year ago, and the money has helped them survive while trying to obtain a visa to a friendly land and a new home.
An opportunity has come up in Canada. They will now accept 3000 Afghan refugees who are eligible for resettlement. The Afghan Women’s Organization Refugee and Immigration Services are willing to sponsor Zaafirah’s application to immigrate. To apply, they must have living expenses for the first year. For Zaafirah, that means raising $15,000 by October 31, the deadline to apply. The Peter M Goodrich Memorial Foundation will manage the funds from the fundraiser. We want to stress that this move to Canada will be permanent; she will never have to leave! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a positive change in Zaafirah's life forever!
PLEASE DONATE BY October 31, 2022
Why we care…
Zaafirah was being tutored online in English at her home in Afghanistan by an American, Kate, when the US departed her country. Seeing what the future would bring as the Taliban took over and knowing how much Zaafirah wanted to study and become a nurse to help others, Kate sprung into action to raise money to help get Zaafirah out of the country and to college.
Kate contacted the Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation, founded by the parents of the namesake son who was killed on the second plane that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11. The mission of the Foundation is to help Afghan students who want an education to come to the United States or other countries and fulfill their dream. Then Kate contacted Niagara University, which responded with a full scholarship should Zaafirah be able to attend.
Zaafirah would need travel money and living expenses. Kate contacted her hometown Rotary Club in Mendocino, California, and the South Ukiah Rotary in Mendocino County. They stepped up with several thousand dollars, and a GoFundMe appeal brought the total donations to more than $13,000. The outlook was positive. Zaafirah applied for her Afghanistan passport. But all the country’s infrastructure closed during the transition of power; the passport would not be obtained until many months later.
Even so, she got on a transport list to leave the country. On August 25, 2021, Zaafirah was on a bus heading to the airport to board a plane to Uganda, where she would apply for a visa to the United States. The bus didn’t make it to the airport as it was the day a bomb exploded at the airport gates. Hope was dashed but not thwarted for Zaafirah. Months later, she, her brother (a translator for the American troops), his wife and their toddler escaped to Pakistan in the middle of the night with only what they were wearing.
The donated funds have been helping Zaafirah, and her family live during the past year. Once her parents could collect and send her passport, she applied twice for a visa to the US Embassy in Pakistan. Both times she was stonewalled, even after a congressional representative and a state department official were working on her behalf.
Her mentor Kate was not about to give up. She learned of an opportunity for Zaafirah to join a family in Canada who had benefitted from the Goodrich Foundation’s support. Thus, we need to raise $15,000 in two weeks. If we could raise $35,000, all family members would be able to immigrate to Canada.
DONATE NOW: Deadline Oct. 31