Tabasum Mustafa excitedly clutches a new laptop — brand new to her, that is.
Mustafa, a 10th-grader at University High School in Irvine, is a refugee from Afghanistan who came to the U.S. last year. The laptop, a tool that will help her learn English, was one of 600 given out to refugees on Sunday, Dec. 4 during an event organized by Afghan Refugee Relief at the Tustin-based nonprofit, Sabil USA.
More than 500 refugee families — most from Afghanistan but also some from Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Egypt — benefited from the initiative. Google, through Welcome.US, donated the refurbished laptops that were distributed. Families also received bags of rice, heaters, school supplies, winter coats and hygiene kits.
Mustafa said she is grateful for the opportunities women and girls have in the U.S, including school. Although English is her favorite subject, she hopes to become a pediatric nurse first and then work toward becoming a doctor.
“I want a life like I have (but) for them,” Mustafa said of her friends still living in Afghanistan. “They are done. They cannot go to school, work or go outside. They are not safe.”
Following the pulling of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has banned girls from attending school after they turn 12. Women are also blocked from sitting for college entrance exams in subjects like journalism, engineering and economics. Women aren’t allowed to hold most public sector jobs either.
Afghan Refugee Relief is a nonprofit organization, founded in Orange County last year, to meet the resettlement needs of refugees who fled Afghanistan after the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the Taliban’s takeover of the country.
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Its next event, a gift distribution for children, is on Sunday, Dec. 11 in partnership with the With You Foundation, founded by Iranian pop singer Ebrahim Hamedi, known by his stage name Ebi.
“Afghan Refugee Relief unequivocally supports the rights of women and girls to earn a living, to go to school and to have their basic needs met,” said Saman Hamidi-Azar, a member of the nonprofit’s board, adding she hopes the donations will change the trajectories of the refugees’ lives.
Mezghan Dostyar, who also received a laptop over the weekend, decries the loss of her future.
She was working as a flight attendant, running a clothing boutique and was almost done with her graduate degree in political science when the Taliban took over. Now, a resident of Arcadia, Dostyar has enrolled in an ESL program so she can one day attend nursing school.
“It’s difficult to start at zero,” she said.
Dostyar moved to the U.S. in August with one of her sisters, Shabana. She was eligible to move because of her voluntary activism work with White Assembly, a nonprofit organization that seeks to advance democracy and tolerance.
But two sisters are still in Afghanistan. When the Taliban took over and restricted the education of women and girls, one was in her last semester of college, about to complete a journalism degree; the other sister was in 10th grade. Now, however, they stay home.
“[A]ll of them are at home, just looking forward to (getting) a chance to get out of the country,” Dostyar said.
Ahmed Javid Danish, who previously worked for USAID in Afghanistan but moved to Westminster last year with his wife and four children, received two laptops through the initiative.
While it was difficult in the beginning, his three older children are now in school where they are learning English and making friends. One of the donated laptops is for them to practice their typing.
The other is for his wife, Rahima Danish. She hopes to improve her English and eventually become a makeup artist, Ahmed Javid Danish said about his wife.
Ahmed Javid Danish worries for his family back home in Afghanistan though, especially his sister, who held dreams of becoming a doctor but cannot go to school anymore.
“Why they (Taliban) are not leading us to improve, why they are not leading us to become educated?” Ahmed Javid Danish said. “Why (do) they want to keep our people in a dark situation?”