Dear the international and American community, 

My name is Mursal Fahimi and I am from Kabul, Afghanistan. I recently got accepted into DePaul University in Chicago for the 2021 school year and my dream is to study Environmental Studies because climate change is devastating my motherland and I want to solve this problem. I must leave Afghanistan to get an education because the Taliban have already bombed my school and killed my best friend over our education choice. 

In summary, I need your financial support to obtain my I-20 and F-1 student visa in Pakistan because the U.S. Embassy in Kabul has closed; and support to pay for my tuition after my scholarship deductions, which amounts to $20,000 a year.

There are next to no options here for me to follow that path, and the constant threat of getting killed during this turmoil has become too much to bear. I need to share my story because I need your support to help me get to school without dying. 

I grew up in a small village in Bamyan Province, Central Afghanistan, and belong to the Hazara minority, which has faced merciless persecution by the Taliban. Making matters worse, when I was entered 4th grade, my dad lost everything he had. Due to a bad drought, our family moved to Balkh Province, an active Taliban stronghold, to seek jobs. 

My father couldn’t afford to send us to school anymore and pay for our bills so my mother, my older sister, and I started working in a factory to clean raisins. Without help, our situation got worse and after seeking for many months my sister got a job in Kabul and we moved there. 

I hated our situation because every time we moved, I lost my social network and had to make new friends, which was difficult for me. 

In Kabul, my public school was far away from our house, and affording transportation was not easy but fortunately, I got a scholarship to study in a private and better school to continue my education. Without this level of financial aid, I would never have been able to finish school at all.

It was great studying there until my school started receiving threats from the Taliban. In 2017, the Taliban resumed targeting the Hazara community and our educational centers. In 2018, they attacked a local educational center and killed more than 50 young students who were studying to go to university. 

It was not easy for me to go to school every day with fears that I might not be able to go home again. In school we were always talking about how the Taliban are going to attack or what we should do if they came to our school. Some of my classmates said that they would pretend to be dead or throw themselves out from windows.

The Taliban’s attacks on all educational centers started to become the norms. They have attacked the American University of Afghanistan in 2016 and killed 17 people and injured others. In 2020, they attacked Kabul University and killed 35 students and teachers, injured others. In 2020 and 2017, they attacked two more educational centers, one of them killing my classmates. The death toll was over 70 people dead and hundreds more injured.

One day like every other day after class, my best friend and I were preparing to go home but I forgot to take the ID from the school manager. My best friend said she’d go first and see me tomorrow. I went inside and as I was reaching out in front of the school manager's desk, I heard a loud noise that froze me in time. The teacher screamed at me to run to another door and I stopped hearing anybody's voices.

A Taliban suicide bomber with explosives in his jacket had attacked our study center and killed my best friend along with many other students. 

For my best friend, there’s nothing left of her. No more ID card, no more preparation classes, no university, no more teachers, and no more dreams for her. 

Could you imagine losing your best friend in an explosion and you yourself not becoming insane? Could you imagine still studying and continuing to live here as a possibility? 

Studying in Afghanistan is not an option for me. I can't afford to lose another friend. I can’t keep seeing blood everywhere. And I cannot go to any university because I am afraid I will be killed because I am a woman.

Again, I need your financial support to obtain my I-20 and F-1 student visa in Pakistan because the U.S. Embassy in Kabul has closed; and support to pay for my tuition after my scholarship deductions, which amounts to $20,000 a year. 

Thank you very much for helping me and supporting my dream in this tumultuous time. This money will enable me to study my dream field and get myself to safety. Your support will help me have a career to contribute to solving climate change problems. No donation is too small and I greatly appreciate all who have taken the time to read and share.

Notes from Mursal’s sponsor in America 

My name is Anh Nguyen (she/her) currently living in Lenape territories, aka Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I am a VietLead's staffer and a member of DSA International Committee. I met Mursal’s sister, Sediqa, at Temple University and was struck by her story and courage. Like Sediqa, Mursal has defied against all odds to make it this far in her college journey and it would be a shame that she has to forego her only chance to get a world-class education because she cannot afford the tuition while living in fear of Taliban attacks every day. As a Vietnamese immigrant, the story of U.S. intervention and the ensuing refugee crisis is still fresh on my mind. Please give Mursal the ticket to safety and education that I know everyone in America also deserves and enjoys.