21-year-old Freshta Tori Jan moved to the United States just six years ago, after the Taliban shutdown her school in Kabul. Now, she’s working to spread awareness on social issues happening in Afghanistan.
“I refused for that to be the end of my education,” she said. “I remember my mom, she had just fell to her knees and she was like, “you have to go.”
Before her family evacuated Kabul, she hadn’t seen her immediate family in ten years. She says what’s happened in Afghanistan over the last month bas been devastating.
“There was just so much advancements in the mix all this insecurity that was made,” Freshta said. “Then in just a blink of an eye. Literally within three days, all that was taken away. Especially for the woman and all these minorities that have suffered for so long.”
Her family is now based in the U.S. after evacuating just a few weeks ago. Freshta said the reunion was emotional. Many times, she believes she wouldn’t hear from her Afghan family again… especially since the Taliban has taken power.
”I picked up the phone and all I kept hearing was my sister was telling me her goodbyes. They were at the airport with the mobs,” she said. “I was hearing all these gunshots. There were three people that got shot right in front of her, and my nieces and my nephews, and my mom.”
Freshta now attends Calvin College in Grand Rapids. She didn’t move back to Afghanistan after the Taliban killed her father. Her mother feared they would kill Freshta too.
“My mom was very afraid that they either would’ve hung me, literally right at the airport, or they would’ve had me married off to some very old person, who was probably twice, three times my age,” she said.
Freshta works to spread awareness on the social issues going on in Afghanistan. She runs a nonprofit called Sew True.
She hopes people get more involved.
”Just be more involved in tangible ways,” she said. “Think of us as humans. Get involved and stay informed. Just really, truly dedicate to making an impact for another human being.”
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