We were recently contacted by our partners in Afghanistan to tell us about Naseema, a young Afghan woman whose life is at risk right now. Below is her story, also posted on the MADRE website. Scroll through to the bottom of this entry to find out how you can help.
Naseema knew full well what her husband was capable of—and still she chose to report him to the authorities for murder. Now, her life is in constant danger, as her husband tries to track her down, and her only hope is to escape her home country of Afghanistan.
Three years ago, Naseema’s husband owed money, and a female loan officer was sent to collect his dues. As Naseema looked on, her husband killed this woman and dumped her body in a well.
Naseema feared for her life, but she could not forget what she had seen. She knew she could not remain silent and allow herself and her three children to continue to live with this man. She gathered her courage and went to the police, who found the body and arrested her husband.
In an instant, Naseema’s life was changed.
Her husband was given a long prison sentence, but with his connections to criminal groups outside the prison walls, Naseema knew that he could still reach her. She fled with her children to one of Afghanistan’s few women’s shelters, but her husband made threatening calls to her. The danger escalated, and one year ago the shelter pushed her out, telling her it was too risky to continue to house her.
Arriving at another shelter, the threatening phone calls continued. Her husband left a veiled message that Naseema should see what had happened in her father’s home—when one of the shelter’s case workers went to investigate, she found that Naseema’s sister had been shot.
Two months ago, Naseema’s husband escaped from prison. In a desperate attempt to keep her and her children safe, she moved to a shelter in Kabul, a larger city where she might go unnoticed.
But in early November, he found her, appearing at the doors of the shelter in Kabul.
Naseema and her children must leave the country. For her courageous act, she has been tracked relentlessly by her husband, and she is no longer safe in Kabul. She must travel to Pakistan to contact the UN High Commission for Refugees and set up a new life for herself and her children.
We have previously written on this blog about MADRE’s Afghan Women’s Survival Fund, an effort to enable Afghan women who threatened with violence to escape to safety and to create new lives for themselves.
In partnership with Women for Afghan Women, who run a series of women’s shelters in Afghanistan and who shared Naseema's story with us, we are activating the Afghan Women’s Survival Fund to provide the means for Naseema to protect her life and the lives of her children. Please share Naseema's story, and click here to find out more about how you can help.
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