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
