Afghanistan was not a home for Yasamin and Frozan anymore after August 15, 2024. The Taliban had taken it. After seizing control, the Taliban took away the sisters’ opportunities for education, work, individual freedoms, safety, and a future in Afghanistan. Yasamin and Frozan are Hazara, an ethnic group who suffer long, ongoing persecution by the Taliban that includes targeted violence, human trafficking, and possible death. Barred from attending university, Yasamin and Frozan are determined not to lose their educational dreams and life designs to the Taliban. They would not give up. Now we can give them a hand up. Please join with us to invest in Yasamin’s and Frozan’s education and lives. Support their coming to the United States for two years as full-time students. “The night we left Afghanistan was one of the most difficult of our lives because we had to leave family behind, our parents, sister and brother. We had to escape the brutality, discrimination, and oppression of one of the world's worst places to be born female.” A year and a half ago the sisters fled to Pakistan. To cross the border, they had to be accompanied by one brother, the family's sole breadwinner. While safer as temporary migrants in Pakistan, all three cannot stay permanently nor legally work. Pakistani authorities keep Afghan refugees under surveillance. Both sisters had initiated the application process to come to the USA and regularly visit UNHCR and the US Embassy to become officially recognized "refugees." Like hundreds of thousands of Afghans, Yasamin, Frozan and their brother Mohamed face endless bureaucracy, suspicion, intimidation, exploitation and uncertainty. Yasamin and Frozan were admitted to Western Kentucky University as transfer students for the Fall semester of 2024. Yasamin was transferring from the American University of Afghanistan; Frozan from the Kabul University. These young women are outstanding students who want to excel in their coursework, build lives for themselves, and care for their families. They do not complain, beg, or seek pity. They do not exploit their suffering, the horrifying stories they share omit the worst details. The sisters have exhausted savings set aside for USA education, and ethnic discrimination has pushed their family in Afghanistan from middle class to destitute poor. LFEBridge donations of any size go directly into three budgets of set amounts spent to specifically help: 1. $500 a month – on basic living expenses for all three: rent, food, and other necessities. 2. $30,665 advance for each sister’s first academic year: This accumulated amount demonstrates sufficient funds for one year of undergraduate study (tuition, room, board, books, fees, etc.) in the USA necessary to qualify for an "F" student visa. 3. $3,000 per person for travel expenses to the USA: A conservative estimate subject to adjustment based on travel costs (airfare, lodging, transport, inflation, etc.) at the time. We will send small amounts of money via Western Union regularly to pay rent and food. We will keep education and travel funds in LFEBridge until both sisters secure a visa, at which time we will arrange their travel here, and eventually pay their study expenses. Proof of financial and personal support goes a long way in the process to obtain a student visa, and when they do, available funds will facilitate their transition. Western Kentucky has a scholarship program that allows Afghan students an equivalent to in-state tuition. While Kentucky is the only state offering scholarships to refugee students residing in-state, unfortunately, Yasamin and Frozan will need to qualify after arrival and establish themselves. Every day until then, they need to eat, pay rent and phone, work on securing visas, and access self-study materials and books. Every day until then, Yasamin and Frozan work hard to not give up. Yasamin, Frozan and brother Mohamed are not faces from shaky videos or fuzzy photos in your news feed. They’re people we write to, talk with, and embark on projects alongside. We - John and a few colleagues - send money to pay rent and eat. We stay in touch through WhatsApp, text and voice. We have explored all possibly doable funding sources with little to no success. We want to welcome them to Kentucky and into Western Kentucky classrooms. Who are "we?" John is in the international office at Western Kentucky University. He has 30 years of international education experience. Sydney is a WKU student and Peer Navigator assisting WKU's refugee students. Alice is a co-founder of Refuge BG, which provides amazing support for refugees settling in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We will only work with legal forms of immigration and realize securing any visa is very difficult. We cannot guarantee they can come to the States or another safe country. If we cannot get them out of the country, we will continue to use funds to support them. John travels to Pakistan in late October and will work personally with US Embassy staff there to demonstrate adequate support for the sister students. We need you to be on Yasamin’s and Frozan’s Support Team, for when you do, then WE will be more than enough to Secure the Educational Futures for Two Afghan Women Refugees. Any amount you – WE - give makes every day until when they graduate (with distinction) less difficult for Yasamin and Frozan to not give up. We will stand with and walk aside these two brave, resolute young women as they lay the educational foundations for the lives they dare to design and make for themselves. Two lives the Taliban did not take away. And if WE have a surplus left over, then WE will give funds to help fulfill the educational dreams of Hazara or other ethnic groups of women. WE will direct the remaining dollars toward scholarships for Afghan women to pursue studies in Afghanistan online or abroad at WKU or another university. Take that, Taliban!
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