Bring Siblings to Safety

Under the Same Sky – From Afghanistan to Colorado Springs

This GoFundMe campaign is to raise funds to bring a family back together after 8 years of being separated in three countries because of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The story began over 8 years ago when a young woman in Kabul was working for the US Army as a cultural advisor. She was quickly promoted because of her invaluable work with the people of her country. When the Taliban discovered who she was and what she was doing in support of the United States, they began to send death threats to her and to her family. Because of the strong relationships she had built with the US military, she was able to leave Afghanistan and resettle in Colorado Springs. Once here, she received vitally important support from many military families in this community. With her strong determination and motivation to make her life work here, she began pursuing her education to become a Registered Nurse and a US citizen. With hard and relentless work, she has achieved both of these goals. She is now a citizen of the US and is working full-time as an RN in the UC Health system.

This is the story of one of the daughters in this family. The story of the other daughter, young son, mother, and father is quite different. With the same determination she used to complete her professional education to become a nurse, the daughter in the US has worked tirelessly for the last years to get her mother, father, sister, and brother here and out of Afghanistan for their safety. The Taliban have continued to follow her family closely with death threats for them all. The nurse was able to get them across the border into India over a year ago. Due to complicated laws in Afghanistan and India, only the mother and father were given visas to travel to the States to join the daughter in Colorado Springs. The young daughter, who is 21, and the son, who is 10, have not been allowed to leave India.

InnerCHANGE WORKS and Imagination Celebration , both local non-profit organizations, have been working in partnership over the last two years to provide a support program for recently resettled Afghan refugees. It is through our work with a large group of women refugees and their children from Afghanistan that we met this RN and her recently arrived mother from Afghanistan and learned about the story of their divided family over many years.

With this GoFundMe campaign, we are seeking to raise the funds to bring this family of 5 finally back together again here in Colorado Springs.

Please read the words of the RN named Benafsha as she shares her story of her family:

"Hello,

My name is Benafsha. There are six members in the family. I have two sisters and a brother. My sisters' names are Husna and Soman, and my brother's name is Muzamil. I am the oldest. I worked with the US Army as a cultural advisor and administrative assistant with the US embassy in a justice department project in Kabul, Afghanistan. While working and supporting my family, I started to get threats in Afghanistan, and it was not safe anymore for me to live there. I was able to get out of the country through my job. However, my family was left behind in Afghanistan, and they were attacked in their home. My father was injured, and then they had to leave the country to move to New Delhi, India. While I was studying nursing here in Colorado, at the same time, I was working to support my family overseas. As a US citizen, I could petition for my family. My parents' cases were processed soon, and they are here with me now. However, my sister, 21 years old, and brother, 10 years old, were not able to accompany my parents and have had to wait for years.

We submitted another petition from my parents' side the second time for my sister and brother. And still no answer, and they have to wait. The wait time is unknown, and it is getting harder for my mother to be away from her 10-year-old child and more safety concerns for her daughter."

If you’d like to learn more about Afghanistan and the events that have impacted so many lives in that country over the last years...here are a few links:

Meryl Streep on the Inclusion of Women in the Future of Afghanistan | United Nations

SOLA Daring to educate Afghanistan’s girls | 60 Minutes

The Fake Wedding | 60 Minutes

We, at InnerCHANGE WORKS and Imagination Celebration, are coming together to form a sponsor group to assist in bringing this family back together by creating passage for this minor and his sister (also his caretaker, in the absence of his parents) over to the United States to reunite them with their parents and older sister.

NOTE: "The Welcome Corps is a service opportunity for Americans in communities across the country to make a lasting impact by helping refugees build new lives in the United States. Marking the boldest innovation in the United States’ approach to refugee resettlement in four decades, the initiative builds upon our country’s long tradition of providing refuge to people forced to flee their homes in search of safety and freedom.

Now, refugees seeking resettlement in the United States receive assistance through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) in one of two ways: through professional resettlement agencies or via Welcome Corps’ sponsor groups."

As we near the end of 2024 and the incoming Administration, we launch this GoFundMe with some urgency as we reach out to our communities to help reunite this family. Your contributions, no matter how small or large, make all the difference in the lives of these courageous and resilient people who have so undeservingly been separated for many years.

Photo taken in Colorado Springs, CO.

With Gratitude.