Arzoo Means Hope
Arzoo Means Hope
By Laurie DeJong
At least 3 years ago when my mentee, Arzoo, expressed her concern about the Taliban taking control again, I told her that I didn’t think it could ever happen and that she should try and focus on the incredible work she was doing.
When we started to hear grumblings about the US leaving Afghanistan, I said the same thing, “I don’t think it will happen”.
But then, the unimaginable happened.
18 months ago, when Arzoo Mansoor Jabari and her three children cowered in a basement in Kabul, it was this reality they knew would come to pass. Due to her husband’s position in the military and Arzoo’s position of empowering women by teaching life skills, they were a target and their lives were truly in danger every second they stayed.
We were all in a state of shock and I was angry at myself for not taking her concerns seriously. Thus began Arzoo’s fierce fight to get her family out of Afghanistan, knowing her daughter would have no chance at an education, and her own classes would never happen again, and that the whole family’s life would be in danger if they stayed.
With the help of Too Young Too Wed and the Paper Fig Foundation, after three harrowing failed attempts to escape, Arzoo and her family finally made it to Pakistan.
Her young daughter and son have been enrolled in school even as their friends and family back home in Kabul are barred from receiving an education. But they face a whole different set of challenges as refugees in a country that never wanted them.
While Pakistan has allowed Afghan refugees in, keeping a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs has been a challenge greater than any of us imagined.
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Arzoo and her husband are not allowed to work and, now that their 1 year Visas have expired, they have to pay steep fines to renew her visas in Pakistan.
“If we don’t pay the fines, it’s not possible to get new visas,” she texted. “Maybe you saw in the news – lots of kids and women are in jail in Pakistan.”
Pakistani jail. That’s what she is facing. For fleeing the Taliban. Which the US government handed her country to. Unless she finds the money to pay for these fees, and the next fines, and the applications, and the rent and the food and the school fees. But she can’t work, or she’ll also go to jail.
The Paper Fig Foundation has been trying to support her as she waits for Humanitarian Parole from the US government. The USCIS, which is responsible for processing Arzoo’s I-131 applications, has notified applicants that they can’t even inquire about their status until November of 2023.
Where does it end, and where does accountability begin? Afghan men working in the military and cooperating with U.S. government were promised safety. Afghan women believed the promise of twenty years of American optimism. Where are those promises now?
To donate to Arzoo’s cause, please go to www.paperfig.org/donate and write “Arzoo” in the comments. Arzoo, you know, means hope.
