AFGHAN STUDENTS BALANCE THEIR HOPES AND CHALLENGES

Khatera and Farzana, first-year UWM students from Afghanistan, have come a long way to try to make their hopes a reality.

They’re among 148 students from the Asian University for Women who escaped gunfire and bombings at the Kabul airport during the Taliban’s August 2021 takeover of Afghanistan. Ten of the young women are studying at UWM.

The transition is difficult, but the students are willing to do what it takes. “I want to be able to pursue my hopes,” Khatera says. “I don’t want to keep them as a hope. I want to make them true.”

This story uses only the students’ first names to protect family members still in Afghanistan. Khatera’s mother has already had visits from the Taliban, who demanded to know if she had family in the United States or other countries. “She was terrified and told them no,” Khatera says.

UWM is one of 10 universities across the U.S. welcoming the women from the AUW. UWM’s English Language Academy connected with Eastbrook Church through senior lecturer Mari Chevako. The church found host families and helped raise money for intensive English classes and tuition.

Brooke Haley, director of the English Language Academy, is organizing a workshop to help the students apply for financial aid and learn how to use the scholarship portal now that the U.S. has given them humanitarian parolee status. Even with grants and scholarships, there will still be a shortfall, so their supporters continue to raise funds. Go to ASPOM.org for information or to donate.

Farzana is studying psychology with the goal of helping immigrants and refugees. “That is something I can relate to personally,” she says.

Khatera is studying microbiology with the goal of becoming a doctor. “There are challenges,” Khatera says, “but we are overcoming the challenges and, hopefully, we will be OK, or maybe great.”

The challenges include language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, worries about their future and homesickness.

“We had a happy life in Afghanistan, and suddenly it all changed,” Khatera says. A main reason she and Farzana fled is because they valued their education, and for women pursuing education in Afghanistan, that means danger.

On Sept. 30, an explosion killed at least 53 and injured more than 100 at a Hazara school where young women were preparing for an exam. Khatera, as a member of the persecuted Hazara minority, is passionate about bringing attention to the issues, promoting the #StopHazaraGenocide hashtag. She struggles to balance her roles. “I need to do my homework, but I need to speak for my people.”

– Kathy Quirk