March 21, 2024
Attendees: Julie, Linda, Susan, Sharon, Heidi, Krista, Sandra, Andi
Special speaker: Shamail Amiri
Etta James, Taylor Swift, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Sarah McLachlan, Billie Holiday, Carly Rae Jebson, Rene Fleming, Indigo Girls, Whtiney Houston, Maria Collus, Kate Bush, Shakira, Sophie Zalmani, Norah Jones, Jewel, Debbie Harry,
Shamail: male singers in Afghanistan criticize the government. Artist: differently-ables she paints with her mouth, she criticizes the government, she evacuated in Germany, Robaba Mohammadi.
Sharon introduction: Shamail was the international soroptomist scholarship winner in 2018. Appropriate that she joins us during women’s history month. She is a “sheroe,” courageous, strong. She went back to Pakistan and Afghanstan to help after the fall of Kabul. Sharon admires her and is blessed to know Shamail.
Shamail:
Her goal in coming to the US was to find safety. She cannot love from inside her heart since she lost her mother. Her mother sent her to underground school in Afghanistan when she wasn’t supposed to. Her mother died of a heart attack. Her father and brother were tortured by the Taliban. The city was controlled by the Taliban. (year 2001) Father killed and mother died in 2008.
Shamail and her 6 siblings escaped into Pakistan. Her siblings were there for a1.5 years until Shamail (22 yo at the time) could become the foster parent in the US. The four youngest stayed in Hemet in a foster home. Her father figure Dr. Krishnick, helped her become the legal guardian in 2015. The youngest just graduated from Scripps Ranch High School!
Women, like Sharon, supported her and helped her.
Shamail doesn’t miss anything from Afghanistan. She likes the opportunity she has here in the US.
Two brothers started a grocery store/restaurant in Las Vegas.
Another brother exports Afghan products.
Sister in college.
Another sister graduated from Mira Mesa HS.
Shamail graduated from UCSD in 2021!
Shamail is interested in the legal system to help people in the legal way to bring justice. Afghanistan is not democratic. There is no justice. Shamail wants to continue to learn her English and her goal is to go to Law School.
She learned very basic English in Afghanistan. No TV. No smartphones. She learned English in mid-city San Diego. She took courses at Miramar College for her Associates Degree.
Hazara ethnic group population pushed into the mountainside. Hazara people are education, hardworking. They like democracy and freedom. They are seen as a threat by the Taliban. Currently, the British government had identified the killing of Hazara as a genocide. Canadian parliament, Australia, working on the genocide. Not the US government as much. The effort is known as the “Hazara Inquiry.”
Back in 2008, the Taliban told her mother that they had kidnapped and killed him. She died three weeks later from a heart attack. Her mother and father were involved in the underground school for girls.
Group of international people created a non-profit to evacuate people from Afghanistan. They worked on evacuating to Pakistan. Shamail went to Pakistan to help and to rescue more of her family members. She had family members who were shot crossing the border. Shamail felt guilty that she couldn’t help. She decided she had to help by going back to Afghanistan. Her uncle told her that many people were finding lost family members, who they thought were dead, in caves. The Taliban emptied their prisons. She was motivated to return to Afghanistan. She thought her father may be alive. Her uncle had hope that her father was alive because they never got a dead body.
In 2022, she dressed like Taliban. Hid her name, too. Changed her name to Shakyla. She found her father in a hospital, unconscious, cigarette burns on his body from torture. She found him in a public hospital. She took him to a private hospital for 6 months. She was able to communicate. He was able to walk, talk, and regain memory. She was in contact with her oldest brother here in the US.
Returned to the US in 2023. Her father remained in Afghanistan. He doesn’t have psychological support.
US approved her father’s move to US. He has been waiting for 8 months for a visa. In March 2022, he suffered a stroke and became paralyzed. Shamail doesn’t know why she can’t get a visa. Sarah Jacobs office has helped with the processing; approved the move from Afghanistan. But the request is stuck in the system.
Shamail works with refugees to educate about mental health, remove the stigma around mental health. Mental health issues are a sign of weakness. She helps people find psychologists. She offers mental health workshop, social and emotional support for family, cultural integration.
SIV is for military to come to US. Many people are claiming SIV even though they are not. They think they will get kicked out of US so they say SIV.
Per Shamail, about 10% of Afghanistan population support the Taliban. Shamail knows a woman who returned to Afghanistan who supports the Taliban. Some people are protecting their wealth so they will support the Taliban. Woman who don’t want education or outside work support the Taliban (5% of the women). The rest of the female population does not support the Taliban. Shamail knows a British educated Afghanistan woman who works on getting the Taliban recognized by the international governments.
Question the US government. Why do we (the US) give money to the Taliban. US government says its for humanitarian aid. How else can the US help? Are aid groups allowed to come in such as Red Cross?
Taliban continues to close universities, parks, beauty salon, showers/bath houses for woman. Media controlled by the Taliban.
Shamail and her family send money back to her uncle and his family.
Sponsor a refugee Welcomecorps https://welcomecorps.org/ Organization started in Jan 2023 by US government for everyday Americans to sponsor refeguees.