We would like to introduce you to one of our favorite people.

If you have spent any time chatting with us in the past few years, you probably know that we have a new member of the family, Marwa. Marwa, who is from Kabul, Afghanistan, joined us in November 2021. She is an amazing woman who survived terrible trauma and is overcoming it and starting to dream again. Here is a video of her sharing her story at an Air Force conference.

Let me tell you a bit about her.

During June and July of 2021, the Taliban was quickly taking over Afghanistan and the banks were closed and the ATM’s empty. Marwa (the sole provider for her family of 7) had not been able to access any cash for food or necessities. On August 15, 2021, her mother asked her to see if she could find an ATM with cash. They had no food and were becoming desperate. So, she left home and visited several ATMs to find they were all empty. She called her American boss asking for advice and he suggested she come to the airport and try the ATMs there. After walking to the airport—an hour away—she still found no money. Heading home, Marwa noticed people screaming and running toward her on the road. Since there were daily bombings in Kabul, she assumed that it was a bomb. Ducking into a nearby shop for protection, she asked a passing woman what was happening and was told that the Taliban had entered the city and effectively stood between her and her home. Calling her boss, he told her to run to the airport. She ran back to the airport, knowing that if the Taliban caught her and saw the American paperwork in her purse, they would torture and kill her because she worked for the Americans as an Air Traffic Controller. Dropping her paperwork wasn’t an option because she needed it to get into the airport and possibly leave Afghanistan. By the time she reached the airport the Afghan flag had already fallen, and things were in total chaos. Once she arrived, they took the Air Traffic Controller team to the other side of the airfield, hiding in the military aircraft hangers for 3 days while the airport was being constantly assaulted by suicide attacks, shooting to control the crowds and scared citizens trying to flee and the Taliban and their agents.

On the third day, Marwa was one of the lucky few who made it onto an airplane. After living those 3 days knowing that if she did not make it, she would most certainly be tortured and killed, she was so grateful to be aboard that C-17 and heading to a refugee camp. Arriving at Camp Doha, she spent the next few months moving from there to Saudi Arabia, back to Doha, and Philadelphia, with her final ‘holding pattern’ in Indiana at an old Military base.

During her travels, she was abandoned by her coworkers, because she was a woman and they thought she would hold them back. She was constantly harassed because of her sex and her status as a single woman. In two camps, it was necessary for her to be given a small room that was locked 24/7 because men were knocking on the door and threatening her day and night.

Her harassment from men was unrelenting and a constant threat, and she felt completely isolated from her family, friends, hope, and any prospects for happiness. As an Afghan woman, she was raised with the notion that if she was raped, it was her fault, and would consequently be discarded by society. This result was a daily fear for her.

In Camp Atterbury, Marwa looked for the quickest way out of the camp, and she was attracted to Utah because of the family focus and resemblance to the terrain of Utah. Plus, because few Afghan refugees wanted to go there, she was able to leave sooner. She arrived in Utah in early November 2021.

Marwa often mentions how grateful she is for everyone who sacrificed and worked for her freedom. She is grateful for everyone who gave their lives, time, monetary gifts to finally provide her with a stable life and security. She is so grateful for her freedom and safety.

When leaving Afghanistan, she left the horror of the war, the constant bombings, the lack of daily comforts, her struggle with hunger and abuse, the fear of torture and death, and the bleak future she faced in Afghanistan. But, she also left her whole family, all of her worldly possessions, $10,000 in irrecoverable savings, and her brief career in Aviation as an Air Traffic Controller. She left her community, society, country and native language. Her years of education now meant nothing and her job as an Air Traffic Controller was not available without immediate U.S. Citizenship. All of her efforts and hard work appeared to have been for nothing.

Quote from Marwa

The way I left my family is something that I will never forget. No goodbye hugs or no farewell, and nothing to give me hope; it was all reactionary with everything happening around me. Finding out that I could not be an air traffic controller was hard because it was something that I spent years working towards. All the schools that I attended were for nothing; all the money I had saved was gone. I felt like I had nothing and never felt as lonely as I did.

By December 2021, Marwa was free and safe in a new home, but she was devastated by the nightmares, the traumatic loss, and the seemingly lack of a future as a 24-year old in a new and strange land with nothing familiar. Even the social workers who greeted her to ‘help’ her told her that the best she could expect was the life of a cook or cleaning team member. The severe PTSD, loss, and seeming lack of hope for a future left her disconsolate. Freedom was such a new concept to her that she did not understand what options she really had in her new home.

With help, Marwa has gotten a full-time job at Catholic Community services as an HR assistant and also works full-time at the airport, pushing people in wheelchairs. She has learned how to drive and recently bought her own car. In Afghanistan, women cannot even sit in the front seat of the car, much less drive or own a car. While working nearly 80 hours a week, she is a full-time student at Salt Lake Community College, taking a full load towards an Associate’s Degree. One of her daily highlights is her therapy dog, Sushi, who helps battle the constant nightmares and PTSD.

Time and healing here in the United States has helped her to understand the vast number of opportunities available to her. For the first time in her life, she is coming to understand what freedom really feels like. Her loss is still a daily challenge, but also has provided her with the grit to embrace the opportunities before her in her new home and live a life that an Afghan woman is not even capable of dreaming of.

Marwa loved being an Air Traffic Controller, but she has set her sights literally higher by dreaming to become a pilot, attain her citizenship and fly for the airlines. Unfortunately, the reality just keeps adding up. Because of her background, she needs extensive medical testing, which will be close to $9000. Flight school will cost upwards of $75,000. She saves every penny she can to put towards her license, but the task and the additional challenges of a new language, life in a new country and no family support are daunting (she also supports her family still in Afghanistan).

We are hoping that you might be interested in helping her achieve her dreams a little faster, before her candle that is burning at both ends meets.