Help Bring the Akbarzada Family to Canada

Product Description

Canada

UPDATE – December 29, 2023

We are so close to completing this campaign!!

Only $800 is still needed to bring this family to Canada!

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** UPDATE

First, Mina had baby girl! Everyone is healthy and well. Congratulations.

Second – all the sponsors are in place, and the paperwork is being filled.

We just need $5000 to complete this campaign.

Your help is so appreciated!

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Dear ;

We are fundraising for Ahmad and Mina Akbarzada and their three young children (plus a baby on the way) to bring them to Canada. They have been living as refugees for the past 5 years. They have a group of five Canadians, including Ahmad’s childhood friend, who will sponsor them through Canada’s private refugee program.*

This loving family has big dreams

Ahmad is an accomplished and well-recognized photojournalist whose work included documenting the injustices and attacks on the Hazara people.

Mina is a women’s rights activist but her work in Afghanistan put her life at risk.

The funds we are raising will help their sponsors bring them to come to Canada. Ahmad and Mina are innovative, self-motivated, hard-working and determined. All they want is the chance to give their children a safe country to live in. Thank you for donating to make their dreams a reality.

In 2017, Ahmad was on a shortlist by the Taliban and his photography studio was bombed. In 2018, the family fled to Azerbaijan. There, they are unable to work, have a bank account, or build a life for themselves.

In 2017, Ahmad’s photo studio was bombed. He lost all of his investment but says “I am lucky to be alive.”

When the family arrived in Azerbaijan, they faced deportation. They had to fight to stay and to get refugee status. There are no NGOs that support refugees, and the local media are not allowed to talk about refugees.

The family lives without any financial support, and it is illegal for them to work in the country, placing them in an impossible situation. For the family, and for other refugees, depression at their lack of opportunities hits them hard.

Despite the limitations they face, Ahmad and Mina work to help others. Mina teaches her fellow refugees skills to help them survive. Ahmad uses his journalist skills to advocate for refugees.

Ahmad’s photographs illustrate the reality of refugees in Azerbaijan. Ahmad was invited by UNHCR Azerbaijanto show his photographs to mark World Refugee Day, 20 June 2022.

In Canada they would have the opportunity to put their skills to use. Both Mina and Ahmed are graphic designers, they are also professional tailors and Mina has a YouTube channel where she shares her baking skills.

Mina and Ahmad work together to design and sew these jackets

Both parents are committed to their children having a good education and want them to have a safe and happy life.

Ahmed’s message to his daughters. “Study to the best of your ability, because the only way to succeed is to study.”

Here’s what we’re doing

We need $36000 to help Ahmad, Mina and their children settle in Canada. These funds will be used to support the family their first year in Canada.

You can join us

Will you help this family begin a new, safe life in Canada?

A donation of any size is very appreciated and will help them get one step closer to freedom.

Thank you.

*For our international friends – here is a link to information about Canada’s Private Sponsorship Program

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