The Woman who escaped from the Taliban

I met the woman who became the director of our schools, let’s call her Zan, in 2006. She escaped from the Taliban just four days ago. I can’t share her identity because her husband and 6 children are still in Afghanistan. We need your help to get Zan’s family out of Afghanistan, too.

My family left Afghanistan in 1979, after the Russian invasion, but Zan’s family couldn’t.

Instead, Zan finished high school and attended Kabul University during the Russian occupation. While at college, she married a wonderful man, an accomplished doctor, and started a family. After college, Zan became a sought-after teacher.

Sadly war was ever-present. The Russians were driven from Afghanistan but the country descended into five years of civil war. While her mother-in-law helped with her growing family, Zan, despite bouts of anxiety and depression, joined a teacher’s collective and began advocating for girls' education.