Javid's and Masooda’s two-year-old son Arsh is dying. We are
appealing for donations to fund the multiple surgeries needed to save
him.
Javid worked as a security guard for our Women in
Agriculture Project in Afghanistan. His wife Masooda was a woman's
rights activist and community liaison with the police teaching women's
rights to the police force. She was also a journalist reporting mostly
on women's rights issues in Afghanistan. It is because of their
progressive stance on women’s rights, and their interaction with our
USAID funded project that they
have lived under fear of reprisals
from the Taliban, moving from house to house every few months, keeping
hidden, for a long time now. The threat is real:
Javid was shot by the Taliban even before they took over the country;
their family member Farozan Safi, a human rights activist, was assassinated in November 2021; s
everal of Masooda’s female colleagues have been killed in the following months.
Not only are they in hiding, facing chronic unemployment and stressful uncertainty, they are now agonizing over their son’ s serious kidney dysfunction leading to an acute medical issue which cannot be addressed in Afghanistan.
On the 13th of May Javid wrote: “Today we visited Ghorzang Hospital in Kabul, which specializes in kidney treatment. They provided us with the following results: my son's condition has worsened. They mentioned that one of his kidneys is no longer functioning, his bladder is paralyzed, and his right kidney is also in serious danger of failing.
On May 26 Masooda wrote: “Since the day we arrived in Kabul, Javid has been going out every day in search of a cheaper way to get a visa for Pakistan. Furthermore, my son' health has worsened compared to before. He has a high fever, and his entire body shivers from the fever. His mouth and tongue have blisters and sores, and from the severity of the fever, he sometimes becomes agitated and hits himself, crying endlessly. At night, he shivers more than 8 times in a minute, and he is terrified. As I am also pregnant, it is difficult for me to endure this situation. I spend the night awake with his cries until morning.”
On May 27 Javid wrote: “Today, we visited both the French Hospital and the Hanzalah Hospital again. They only gave him three types of medicine for his fever, and that's all. “
We are appealing for donations to fund the family’s trip for the multiple surgeries needed to save Arsh. What is needed is $10,000 to pay for visas, living expenses, transport, specialized medical care from a pediatric nephrologist.
