My name is Stephanie and I have the singular privilege of mentoring several awe-inspiring, resilient, fierce, dedicated young women trapped in Afghanistan who simply want to continue their education.

This can only be done outside the country of course, as the Taliban have forbidden women's education after the 6th grade since 2021.

One of my brilliant high school students- we will call her Sarah- has been admitted to a prestigious boarding school elsewhere (wonderful news) but the school is unable to provide scholarships for international students (bad news).

Sarah, like all my girls, is a total bad-ass and I am unspeakably proud of her.

If you are familiar with the situation in Afghanistan you also know that the employment situation, while catastrophic for women- who are unable to work- is equally dire for men.

Sarah's father works incredibly hard to earn enough money for food, shelter and essentials for the family, but not nearly enough to fund this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her.

If we can raise the money, she will be able to start 11th grade in January!

I currently do not earn enough myself to pay for the cost of her travel, tuition and boarding on my own.

I am seeking help to raise the funds by October 22nd to pay for her to take advantage of this remarkable, life-changing opportunity.

Sarah has persevered in the face of unthinkable circumstances- putting her own life at risk to seek ways to continue learning in secret- and finding every opportunity to tutor other young women and girls.

Those who read this are either a woman, or love one, and I'm going to guess, have never had to think about advancing to the next grade in school.

In fact, perhaps you (or the woman/en or girl(s) you love), even dreaded or complained about it.

Sarah and my other girls dream about it.

They just want to finish their education so they can get trained and return to the country they love to help it- and the next generation of women- return to the 21st century (imperfect as it may be) - that we take for granted.

Please help me to help Sarah take advantage of this exceptional opportunity.

It will change her life from being trapped in her father's house, unable to leave without a male family member escort to even go to the grocery store- to attending one of the world's most prestigious boarding schools, where she will excel, enrich the rest of the student community with her lived experience as an Afghan woman, and go on to university, where she should have, by now, been starting her sophomore year.

The primary image on this page is the text message I received from Sarah, when she learned she had been admitted to this school.

The second image on this page is a piece of art done by another Afghan student. The girls often use art to express what words often fail to capture adequately.

Thank you.