Why did my daughters have to die?

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A nonprofit fundraiser supporting

World Family Development and Education Program
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Will senseless ethnic killings of Hazara schoolgirls continue in Afghanistan?

$2,371

raised by 21 people

$15,000 goal

On May 11 2001 as many as 90 schoolgirls died and many others were injured in bombings at the Sayed al-Shuhada girls’ school in Kabul, Afghanistan. This school is in a neighborhood of Kabul mostly inhabited by Afghanistan’s Hazara minority. The attack specifically targeted these Hazara girls who were seeking education, contrary to the demands of fundamentalist Islamic organizations such as the Taliban.

But the news is even worse:  this attack was yet one more expression of the continuing Genocide against the Hazara community in Afghanistan. The clear intent of this attack was to destroy these little girls because they belong to a particular ethnic community, which is the very definition of Genocide. 

This history of discrimination against the Hazaras in Afghanistan is well known. It was a major theme in Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel, The Kite Runner, and it was the history chronicled by the New York Times a day after the bombing.

In the past, both the Taliban and ISIS have sought to prohibit the education of girls and in the past Hazaras have been systematically oppressed by the ruling Pashtun ethnicity in Afghanistan.

These murdered and injured Hazara girls dreamed of going to school to be able to rise above the pervasive illiteracy of their mothers. 

We began this fundraiser as a way of honoring and remembering these girls.  We are proud to have been able to distribute funds raised here and elsewhere directly to some of the families of these little girls who were murdered or injured in this targeted bombing (see photo below).

But among all the atrocities, this moment should stand out. We refuse to let this incident and the lives of these schoolgirls be forgotten.  With your help, we want to accomplish two goals.

The first is to complete the distribution of direct funds to the families of these students. No amount of money can ever account for their loss, but it is at least a remembrance of what could have been and now never will be. 

The second is to help the injured girls complete their education so that they can become literate and independent, to fulfill the destinies denied to so many, too many, of their classmates.

Our organization was among the first to send money raised directly for the families of the murdered girls.

Then we paused to consider: what more can we do with limited resources? After considering various options and proposals, our decision was to partner with an Afghan-American Start-Up called Kabulica Media -- in the making of a documentary to tell the story of the Genocide against the Hazara people in Afghanistan. We want a living documentary that will bring to the attention of the world this horrific evil. We want the UN to recognize the Genocide against Hazaras along with other such Genocides across the world.

We ask you to consider, among the very many requests you receive for charitable giving, extending a helping hand to help fund the small family donations in honor of their daughters, and—this documentary.

The documentary, preliminary title, “WHY DID OUR DAUGHTERS HAVE TO DIE?” will be a concrete, real, long-term means to address the root cause of the loss of these precious Hazara schoolgirls of Afghanistan, their dreams, and their aspirations. Don’t let their loss of life go unnoticed. 

The documentary, in both English and Farsi/Persian, will feature interviews with families and relatives of the victims, scholars in relevant social and political fields, local experts, images of heroes and villains, and images of locations in Afghanistan identified as sites of these recent genocidal atrocities.

Your donation invested today will potentially have huge returns for the entire community of Hazaras, if the United Nations and the USA add the Hazara community in Afghanistan to the list of recognized Genocides still troubling our world. Possible direct benefits might be scholarships for surviving girls, financial aid to establish a memorial, or job or agricultural training for families.

Your donation will allow you to take one small step toward universal peace and justice in the world.

Thank you for reading this message. May the souls of these little girls send blessings down upon you just for reading this message, and for whatever more you will do in their memory. Let us not let them have died in vain. 

Sincerely,

 

Carol Ruth Silver

Chair, Committee for Afghan Girls,

A Project of World Family Development and Education Program (WFDEP)

A 501(c)(3) California charity, EIN 93-1048117

Carol@Silverlaw.biz

P.O. Box 56812

Hayward, CA 94544


and

 

Aref Yaqubi, CEO

Kabulica Media 

Fremont, CA 94538

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