March 20, 2022
Thank you to each and every supporter of our fundraising campaign “Emergency Funds for Afghan Artists.” With your generosity, we were able to raise a total of $53,283.22 (through GoFUndMe, PayPal, Venmo, and direct donations)! As of January 2022, we stopped accepting new donations and formally closed our fundraiser as we completed our goals. Please read our full update here.
Thank you all for your support over the past seven months. We–and the families we have been assisting–cannot overstate our gratitude to each one of you who has contributed to this campaign. Together, you have helped us raise more than $41,000 in direct assistance to evacuate and resettle vulnerable Afghan artists, writers, cultural and civil society workers. Below we share our latest update on our activities, including the current status of each of the families we’ve been assisting.
Also, please note that as of January 2022, we stopped accepting new donations and formally closed our fundraiser as we completed our goals. We have successfully applied for Humanitarian Parole for all of the original nine families we were assisting–a total of 44 applications. Coordinated international evacuation efforts have drastically slowed, so we focused our recent work on providing direct relief to the families as they await their parole applications in country or as they resettle in a third country. As the people of Afghanistan continue to face a dire humanitarian and economic crisis, and as more than 30,000 Humanitarian Parole applications await decisions by USCIS, we will continue to call for immediate humanitarian aid, the unfreezing of assets, and humane immigration/resettlement policy.
Here is an update on each of the families AAAWA has been assisting:
M., Visual Artist
M is a visual artist AAAWA has worked with in the past. We assisted him and his wife in evacuating to Pakistan, where he was awarded a prestigious academic fellowship to the UK. AAAWA assisted the couple with their temporary housing and basic food costs in Pakistan, their Covid testing kits for travel to the UK, their flight tickets, basic living costs in the UK until their fellowship funds arrived, as well as a laptop and arts supplies. They have since settled into an apartment in London provided by the university and M is beginning art school while also contending with PTSD and culture shock. Additionally, M was told that the university would not renew his fellowship for the coming year (September 2022), so AAAWA is assisting him to explore other funding options. We welcome any assistance in the way of connections and/or grant writing.
Z., Filmmaker & Theater Artist
Z is an award-winning filmmaker and social theater artist that an AAAWA member has worked with in the past. AAAWA assisted him and his family of four with evacuating to Pakistan, where he awaits his Humanitarian Parole and P-2 cases. Along the challenging land journey, Z’s four-month-old son became badly ill and had to be hospitalized for a few days. Recently, his 5-year-old had to undergo emergency surgery. Both children are now okay, but these experiences compounded their many stresses, including fear of deportation and lack of sustainable employment. AAAWA has provided the family funds to cover their rent and basic living expenses (prices in Pakistan are nearly double that in Afghanistan) while Z transitions from earning $2/day selling tea to now working as a tailor. This year AAAWA hopes to support Z in continuing his film work.
N., Journalist, Theater Artist, & Filmmaker
N is a theater maker and filmmaker, as well as a former state journalist for Afghan Radio & TV. We assisted N. and his family of five (including a pregnant wife) to secure new national IDs, to apply for new Afghan passports, as well as to make several attempts at crossing the border to Pakistan. It took five months before they were finally able to successfully evacuate–a journey that took them 85 hours(!) by bus and resulted in two of his children becoming severely ill. Fortunately, the family is healthy and safe now, though they, too, face the threat of deportation. AAAWA has helped the family secure housing and basic household furnishings, as well as to cover their monthly expenses over the next few months as N looks for work. We’ve also been trying to advocate for him to the @CommitteeToProtectJournalists. His P-2 visa application is in its initial processing, and he currently awaits the outcome of his Humanitarian Parole case. This year AAAWA hopes to support N in safely continuing his journalism work.
S., Theater Artist, Voice Actor & Writer
S is a well-known writer for theater and radio, as well as a recognizable voice actor in popular radio dramas. He is also the father of seven young children. He has been virtually unemployed for months, doing some minimal and clandestine film dubbing work, which earned him less than $2/day. S also recently lost his mother to a sudden heart attack and has been in mourning. AAAWA has provided him with funds to secure passports and to cover his family’s basic living expenses over several months while he pursues more sustainable work and awaits the outcome of his Humanitarian Parole application. We hope to support S in safely resuming his artistic work.
R., Civil Society Worker
R is a former civil society worker, who has been unemployed since August and heads a household of nine children and an ailing mother. Several of his children were locked out of school by the Taliban, who closed public universities and barred girls from grades 7-12 to go to school. This affected R.’s eldest son (a journalism student at university) and his three teen daughters, whom he determinedly kept enrolled in private English courses. AAAWA helped his eldest son apply for a journalism fellowship for Afghan students at Hong Kong University. We also provided funds for R to keep his daughters enrolled in the English courses, to secure passports for the family and to cover their basic needs over the next months while they wait on their Humanitarian Parole applications and R finds more long term work.
In addition to these five cultural and civil society workers, AAAWA assisted with the filing of Humanitarian Parole applications for an additional five families. These included two widow-headed all-female households, two families working in food security, and one family of former government workers who are presently in hiding. These families remain in Afghanistan. USCIS has received over 30,000 parole applications and have also altered the qualifications to include prohibitive elements, such as third-party evidence of danger to the applicant. Advocacy is currently underway to pressure Congress and President Biden to remove these obstacles and expedite the cases. For more info check out @ProjectAnar and @AfghansForABetterTomorrow
Lastly, AAAWA is also renewing our creative energies in this new year as we mark officially becoming a 501c3 nonprofit organization! We are also at work on a digital exhibit featuring Afghan artists in country and in exile. You can follow our updates and find more information on our website (www.aaawa.net).
Thank you again for your generous support and for being in community with us!
The AAAWA Fam
December 11, 2021
One artist couple was finally issued their UK visas and they flew to the UK recently. We paid for their tickets and Covid testing kits to prepare them for their UK arrival, as well as provided some funds for resettlement costs. If you know of organizations who work with refugees and/or in mental health and can assist them as they make their new home, please let us know. Individuals who can assist in finding them an affordable place to stay or offer advice or friendship would also be appreciated.
We were able to support one theater artist/journalist and his family of five in securing passports. They are in the process of retrieving them. In other good news, the family also welcomed a new baby boy, and this after a few health scares and hospitalization. He also received confirmation of his P-2 visa application with the U.S. State Dept. and received a referral record number. This means that in order for his case to now be processed, he and his family will have to relocate to a third country. We hope that once they retrieve their passports, they can safely relocate to Pakistan. At the same time, the family faces financial hardship as he has been unable to work in journalism or theater. With few employment options available, he is now selling milk as a street vendor.
We were able to support the theater artist/filmmaker and his family to secure housing in Peshawar. They have been struggling financially as it’s very difficult to find work as an Afghan refugee. He says, “I don’t know anyone here really and I’m unknown here. There’s a tea stand outside a hotel where I started working. I come early in the morning and work until 10pm. I earn 300 Pakistani Kaldars ($1.75), and 60 Kaldars ($0.60) goes to transportation, so I bring home 240 Kaldars ($1.40).” He did receive some funds from a relative to purchase basic items for his home like mattresses, pillows, blankets, and a rug. AAAWA will be providing him and his family additional funds to cover their living costs in Pakistan while they await their P-2 and Humanitarian Parole cases.
Of our ten Humanitarian Parole applications, eight have been submitted to USCIS by the law firm. The last two will hopefully be ready to mail in the next week or two. Part of the slow timeline is the law firm processing hundreds of these simultaneously, and part of it is that each application has several components, which is multiplied by the number of family members. In some cases, we need to send out documents in Dari or Pashto for English translation, which also takes time.
AAAWA members have spoken out on the vulnerability of Afghan artists with the press and in panel discussions:
“Undoing the Imperial Imagination Afghanistan and a History of the Present”
This panel conversation explores imperial geopolitics and diplomacy, international media and development, and cultural expertise in today’s Afghanistan. Drawing on insights from Afghan and diasporic scholars in the fields of History, Anthropology, Media Studies, and Diplomacy Studies, the panel offers a nuanced and contextualized analysis of the current situation in Afghanistan. Listen to the recording of the panel conversation here: https://youtu.be/L92vfftfKo4
NPR: “Afghan artists in California’s Bay Area step up to help artists still in Afghanistan” (https://www.npr.org/2021/12/08/1062478232/afghan-artists-in-californias-bay-area-step-up-to-help-artists-still-in-afghanis
Los Angeles Times: “After the withdrawal, U.S. Museums need to tell a richer story about Afghanistan” (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-09-03/afghan-contemporary-artists-u-s-art-museums)
Los Angeles Times: “’The lives come first’: Why Western cultural institutions need to support Afghan artists” (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-08-22/how-to-help-afghan-artists-cultural-institutions-need-to-lobby-their-governments)
October 12, 2021
We apologize for our delay in updating you! We have been very busy successfully evacuating Afghans (yay!) and submitting Humanitarian Parole applications.
We were able to evacuate an Afghan artist couple to Islamabad, as well as secure a visiting artist teaching position for the husband at a US university. The next hurdle is to get a visa appointment at the US embassy in Pakistan so their J1 visa can be processed and they can enter the US. We have been able to arrange temporary housing for the couple, as well as provide a stipend to assist with their daily living costs while they await their visas.
We also assisted with the land evacuation of a theater artist and his family of five from Afghanistan to Pakistan. It took several attempts over many days and some very challenging moments, but fortunately, they were able to evacuate before the southern border was closed again. The final journey took more than 24 hours by vehicle and some by foot, crossing 6 checkpoints and a car breakdown for 8 hours until they safely reached Peshawar (see photos/video: https://aaawa.net/one-afghan-artists-journey-to-pakistan-by-land/). Their elation has been cut short by the fact that their infant son contracted a chest infection along the way, for which they are seeking medical attention. They will remain in Pakistan with family for the time being as they wait for the outcome of the Humanitarian Parole applications (see below) and/or other resettlement opportunities.
We are also working hard to assist another artist and journalist and his family of five. The Taliban’s targeting of journalists (1), particularly in the eastern region, where they live, has forced him to go into hiding. Also, because of the constantly changing policy at the borders, the documentation required for land crossings continues to change, as well as simply whether the borders are closed or open. For example, one week, costly papers called “gate passes”(2) were needed, and the next week, these were no longer accepted. Valid passports, visas, and “permission letters” are required–but even these are not always honored. We are assisting the family in securing valid Afghan passports now that the passport offices in the country have reopened, however, they are in line with 170,000 other applicants (3). The family is also somewhat limited in their travel abilities due to the health conditions of the spouse. We are supporting them by exploring every option for them to quickly evacuate.
In our previous update we wrote that due to complications with GoFundMe and the closure of Afghan banks, we had to shift our efforts from sending money directly to Afghans to resettlement efforts once they made it to the U.S. We are pleased to announce that since that update, this barrier has been removed and we were able to send money to several Afghans. We have been able to provide some financial support to the above artists, as well as for another artist, spouse, and their 7 children, and a human rights advocate, spouse, and their 8 children. All of our families are currently out of work due to the volatile situation in the country and their evacuation efforts.
In addition to the artists, we managed to evacuate a family of seven, which included 4 daughters and 1 son in the medical profession. We also evacuated a journalist and her family, who was forced to shut down her institute due to death threats from the Taliban. Women have been banned from working by the Taliban (4).
We were able to connect these three families with someone in Islamabad who was able to find them affordable housing, which is quite rare in Islamabad.
Working with Greenberg Traurig law firm in DC, we have also submitted Humanitarian Parole applications for 9 families, or 44 individuals–these include 4 of the families mentioned above, as well as 5 others who are vulnerable–including families that are Shiite, widows, and now out-of-work educators. Humanitarian Parole offers admission for people otherwise ineligible to stay in the United States for a temporary period of time due to an emergency. We have spent roughly one third of our current fundraiser on humanitarian parole fees and are very grateful for the support and legal help of the law firm.
Lastly, one of our AAAWA members has been volunteering at the Philadelphia airport and translating for incoming Afghan refugees.
Now that we have a better sense of evacuation costs (a flight to Pakistan or Qatar ranges from $1500-$3500/person), we are increasing our GoFundMe goal to $107,000 so that we have funds to assist the 32 individuals (5 original vulnerable artists and their families). Thank you for your support! Please continue to share our fundraiser so we can reach this new goal.
1. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/08/afghanistan-taliban-severely-beat-journalists
2. https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/pak-orders-elimination-of-gate-pass-at-tokhram-border-with-afghanistan20211001003852/
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/06/afghanistan-taliban-passport-refugee/
4. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghanistan-taliban-women-girls-work-school-sharia-rules/
September 3, 2021
We appreciate your patience and continued support of vulnerable Afghan artists, writers, and cultural workers. Since we last updated our GoFundMe page, we have faced numerous obstacles in withdrawing the money we raised. In fact, we are one of many Afghan organizers who haven’t been able to withdraw money from GoFundMe as individuals for Afghanistan. For reference, here is an article about another GoFundMe fundraiser that hasn’t been able to withdraw funds on behalf of vulnerable LGBTQ Afghans who are seeking safe evacuations from Afghanistan: https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/crowdfunding-campaign-raises-funds-for-lgbtq-afghans/205194.
In addition to the obstacles in place from GoFundMe, all of Afghanistan’s banks are currently closed, which makes the direct disbursal of funds nearly unachievable. Additionally, the money transfer firm, Western Union, which had suspended services in Afghanistan since August 18, 2021, only recently reopened their services for a period of two weeks, with a “$0 transfer fee for all money transfers into Afghanistan from September 3 to 17” (per this article from Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/9/2/western-union-to-resume-money-transfer-services-to-afghanistan).
For the above reasons, we are changing the way that we will help the beneficiaries of this GoFundMe. And although the U.S. has withdrawn from Afghanistan as of August 31, vulnerable Afghan artists, writers, and cultural workers still need your help. City Lore will work closely with the Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI) to process P-2 visa applications and merit visas for the campaign’s artists seeking to leave Afghanistan, as well as to support their resettlement efforts afterward. Any leftover funds will be applied to Afghan refugee resettlement that directly supports arriving individuals and families.
In addition to the disbursal process outlined in the update to our fundraising story above, we would like to share what we have been working over the past 1.5 weeks:
– We submitted the names of all of our vulnerable artists, writers, and cultural workers to over 10 evacuation flight lists. This is a lengthy process that often includes sending documentation for each family member, providing substantial biographical data in new formats and forms each time.
– We coordinated bus pickups for several vulnerable artists and their families in the middle of the night (EST), liaising between the families we are assisting and the entities or affiliates organizing the evacuations. (Unfortunately, these buses were unable to enter the airport due to the chaos there).
– We corresponded with more vulnerable, at-risk artists and their families, whom we added to the abovementioned evacuation lists.
– We have been able to recruit a few volunteers to assist us with this extraordinary amount of paperwork and research. Thank you to our wonderful team—your time and care has been indispensable!
– We have been in touch with Senator Cory Booker’s office in assisting with our evacuation and resettlement efforts. Through his office, we contacted a law firm that will now assist us with filing Humanitarian Parole (https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/humanitarian-parole/information-for-afghan-nationals-on-parole-into-the-united-states) applications and are working with the Greenberg Traurig law firm to process these. The process requires yet new forms and documentation, including identifying financial sponsors on behalf of the applicants. We are currently looking for financial sponsors for each humanitarian parole application. Please see this document for more information and contact info[at]aaawa[dot]net if you are interested!
– We are also working with the artists to help them identify secure land route options.
– Lastly, AAAWA is also meeting regularly to strategize and be as responsive to the situation as possible while also assessing our long-term goals and objectives. Stay tuned for more.
August 20, 2021
Thank you all so much for your support. We truly appreciate every donation and are leaving the page open in order to continue accepting support on behalf of vulnerable Afghan artists, writers, and cultural workers. Currently, it remains virtually impossible for Afghans to safely get to the airport, let alone make it out of the country. So in addition to the visa applications we are preparing, we are also researching other pathways to relocate artists at risk (see below). At the same time, we are navigating the volatile situation with the banks and liquidity issues with cash, so we are also researching safe distribution of the funds and will report back as soon as we secure that. Beyond our immediate contacts, we are also determining how else we can use the generous donations to support other artists and cultural workers, as well as to assist in the resettlement of Afghans broadly. Again, we will report back as we finalize these plans.
Here is what we have been working on in the past 96 hours:
– We are in daily, sometimes hourly, contact with our affected artists and cultural/civil society workers to coordinate our efforts and to maintain transparency and vigilant support.
– We have submitted an Artist Freedom Initiative application for a visual artist and are in the process of securing a Spanish and Indian visa for them. We have also sent them phone credits so they can continue to be in communication.
– We have prepared and submitted a P-2 US visa application on behalf of one theatre artist and their family.
– We have prepared and submitted a Canadian visa application as part of a Special Program for Vulnerable Afghans for one of the theatre artists.
– We are in the process of finishing preparation of a P-2 US visa application for two other theatre artists and the civil society worker.
– We have submitted all of the artists’ names to several US evacuation lists.
– We have provided visa and residency information to another visual artist who reached out to us after being beaten by the Taliban.
– We’ve been in contact with institutions in the US and abroad about the possibility of inviting these artists as artists-in-residence.
– We are researching other resettlement options for cultural workers, such as relocation programs for artists and writers at risk.
– We are working with policy organizations that are campaigning for the safe and immediate evacuation of Afghan nationals and the streamlining and expediting of U.S. SIV, P1, and P2 visa applications.
– We have spoken to the press, including NPR (here: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/14/1027689258/afghans-living-outside-of-afghanistan-reflect-on-chaos-in-their-home-country and here: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/15/1027839763/the-history-of-the-taliban-in-afghanistan) to convey the urgency of the crisis and to stress the vulnerability of artists and cultural workers.
– We are searching for Canadian families who may be able to sponsor Afghans. More info: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/help-outside-canada/private-sponsorship-program/groups-five.html.
– We’ve compiled a list of resources and calls to action: https://aaawa.net/2021-afghanistan-crisis-resources.
– We’ve reached out to our individual representatives to demand that the US government also prioritize evacuation of Afghan artists and cultural workers at risk.
Please continue to advocate by calling your representatives to include artists as a vulnerable, protected category under the current asylum-seeking process. Here are some resources to that end:
Congressional Committee Call Script (https://bit.ly/call4AFG) – This document is an attempt to centralize contact information and demands for US politicians regarding Afghanistan.
Congressional Advocacy Script (https://bit.ly/afghanistanemergency) – Calling and petitioning congressional representatives based on your district.
Text Crisis to 52886
AAAWA is a small group of dedicated individuals, but in order to help more people we need more help. If you would like to volunteer, please contact gazelle[at]aaawa[dot]net.
August 16, 2021
Thank you to everyone who has donated to our fundraiser. As of Sunday, August 15th, every major city, including the capital, is now in the hands of the Taliban. AAAWA members are receiving more requests for urgent assistance from artists across Afghanistan with whom we have worked with in the past. They and their families are in immediate danger in a very volatile situation, so we have increased our fundraising goal to $15,000. Please see the updated description as to whom we (and YOU) are helping and in what ways.