Vermonters Helping Afghans Seek Asylum in Switzerland

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“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” -Mahatma Ghandi For over a year, we have been tutoring on-line a 14-year-old girl, Kinaaz*, who lives in Afghanistan with her family. She relies on several Vermont-based tutors to gain an illegal, underground education because girls and women are banned from attending school, being seen or heard in public, playing sports or music. Her sister, Gohardshad*, is a healthcare professional, who has spoken out against a massacre by the Taliban in the hospital where she works. Because she had the courage to appear in Swiss and American documentaries, she faces on-going retribution and the very real possibility of imprisonment and death. The risk to herself and younger siblings is mounting as her past work with Western aid organizations, like Doctors Without Borders, is uncovered. The Taliban continues to comb social media to rout out “infidels.” For some time, we have sought to find humanitarian and educational visas for Kinaaz, Gohardshad, and their three other young siblings in the United States. Of course, in the last several months, the door to immigrating to the US has slammed shut. Now, they are making plans to flee Afghanistan to Switzerland where they will apply for asylum. The immigration attorney handling their cases has said their chances for acceptance are very good. The remaining stumbling block for leaving Afghanistan is the cost of five plane tickets to Switzerland, which costs approximately $5,000. To see what Goharshad and the other hospital workers survived, please watch the 40-minute video below. Regardless of the amount we each donate, we can all make a profound difference in the lives of this gritty young Afghan family who will thrive and work to help others in Switzerland and Afghanistan. Afghan Hospital Massacre *Names changed