Sponsor an Afghan woman and child to Canada

Product Description

Canada

Obtaining official refugee status is incredibly difficult. For Afghan women, it is almost impossible. They have no access to UNHCR offices in Afghanistan nor in neighbouring countries like Iran or Pakistan.

Ayat Yousofi is officially certified as a refugee by the UNHCR in Indonesia – unlike the vast majority of the world’s refugees – he qualifies for Canada’s private sponsorship program. That means his wife Amina and daughter Fatima are also covered by his refugee status.

This fundraiser needs $28000 and will allow Amina, Ayat and Fatima to find private sponsors to help them settle in Canada.

If there are any additional funds raised, they will be used to help other refugees to safety.

Ayat and Amina are Hazara Afghans, many of whom live and farm in the Ghanzi district of Afghanistan. They face discrimination because of their ethnicity and religion. Their ancestral farms are often attacked and stolen by members of other ethnic groups who are aided by the Taliban.

In 2012, Ayat’s family farm was the victim of an attack. Under heavy gunfire, Amina and the family’s other women and children fled. Tragically, Ayat’s father was killed and Ayat was badly wounded. Fellow villagers took Ayat to the local health clinic and hid Amina and his other family.

At midnight, heeding the warning of the villagers, relatives took Ayat to the neighbouring village where he was reunited with Amina and his sister and nephew. The family continued to run, helped by relatives, moving to Jaghori, then Kandahar, then escaping across the border to Quetta, Pakistan.

Even in Pakistan it was not safe and there was little work for a farmer. Leaving the pregnant Amina and other family behind, Ayat travelled to Tehran, Iran where he worked in construction. While he was there, his daughter Fatima was born in Pakistan – beginning her life as a displaced person.

After one year of working in Iran, Ayat was caught by the police and deported to Afghanistan. He immediately left for Quetta again to reunite with Amina.

When Ayat arrived in Quetta, he knew he had to find somewhere he could live in peace and support his family. He heard that people were travelling to Indonesia and that the UNHCR would help them to resettle them to a third country.

Ayat borrowed some money from a friend and travelled to Indonesia, while Amina and Fatima returned to Afghanistan to live with Amina’s mother. The couple had no idea how long their family would be separated.

After Ayat’s arrival to Indonesia in 2013, he lived on the sidewalk in front of the Jakarta UNHCR office. He was then incarcerated at a refugee detention centre, before being released to the community. Since 2018, he has been living in refugee accommodations. While he still does not have the freedom to work, he began studying English, Bahasa Indonesian and also learned cooking and baking to share with his friends in his accommodations.

After the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, Amina and Fatima fled to Quetta again.

Ayat desperately misses Amina and Fatima and yearns to live with them in peace.

We need $27,000 to help this family settle in Canada.

Having the funds in place will make finding five Canadian sponsors for Ayat, Amina and Fatima easier. The group will no longer need to raise the funds necessary to financially support the family in their first year, but can concentrate on finding them a home, schools for Fatima, a job for Ayat and language and job training for Amina. Fatima was also born with a congenital deformity in her hip joints which requires surgery before she reaches adulthood.

Will you help Amina, Ayat and Fatima begin a new, safe life in Canada?

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

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