After the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled, many to the United States. President Donald Trump has stopped most resettlement programs, leaving many of Afghan refugees, and their families, in limbo.
Several women who fled Afghanistan will speak at Virginia Tech Thursday evening, Feb. 26., including Samman Akbarzada, a third-year student at the University of Virginia studying to go on to law school, and she hopes to become a human rights lawyer.
Akbarzada is the author of two books about her experience growing up in Afghanistan. She also volunteers remotely as an English tutor to girls back home.
“I feel like a part of me is still left behind, and I’m doing it for her,” Akbarzada said. “You never really leave a place, even if you do. And I could easily be one of those girls right now in Afghanistan stuck in a dark room.”
Akbarzada left her home in Afghanistan in 2021, the same year her first book, a novel called "Life is a Movie", was published. Last summer, through an internship with an immigration lawyer, she begun mentoring high school students from displaced and underserved communities. She and several students are now working to establish a non-profit called NSN (Never Say No), which pairs university student volunteers with high school students, helping them apply for college.
Akbarzada offered this advice to anyone wanting to help neighbors who are threatened by changes to immigration policies:
“Just being ok with welcoming strangers who speak a different tongue in your own home, and just building that community by getting to know them first and building trust,” Akbarzada said. “I think there is this magic in just being kind.”
She also suggested people search for organizations int their community that offer rides, mentorship, tutoring and other types of support for people in immigrant communities, like Cville Tulips in Charlottesville.
Also speaking at the event will be women who served alongside U.S. soldiers in the Afghan Army's Female Tactical Platoon, who will share their experiences and talk about their work helping other refugees across the world.
The event is called "From Afghanistan to the US Stories of Displacement and New Futures" and will take place at 6:00 Thursday at the Inn at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg in Latham Ballroom B, and an online version will also be available here.
The event is hosted by Virginia Tech's Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies.
