MILWAUKEE — It’s been just over a year since hundreds of Afghan refugees fled their homeland when the Taliban took over. 

 Many of them escaped to the United States, with some landing in Wisconsin.

Ten Afghan refugee women now attend school at UW- Milwaukee. They’re attending the university’s Intensive English Program, the only program of its kind in the state.

UWM is among 10 universities nationwide that took in Afghan refugees from the Asian University for Women (AUW) in Bangladesh.

“Women were going to school, and they were free,” said 19-year-old Zahra, as she remembers what Afghanistan used to be like before the Taliban takeover. “Children were going to school and could have an education.”

For reasons she is keeping private, Zahra is only using her first name for this story. Even though she is now safely in the United States, there is still a lot of fear for people in Afghanistan.  

She caught the last evacuation flight out of Kabul. Though she’s thankful to have escaped, she also feels guilty.

“I see my people and people in other countries,” she said. “African countries, Ukraine, Afghanistan and they’re dying, and I’m here,” she said.    

She and the other women studying at AUW never expected to return to their home country. Then, COVID hit and they were forced to learn remotely from home.

Zahra watched as Kabul fell around her to the Taliban.

“I don’t want to be controlled by anything externally,” she said.  “I feel like they cannot look at women to be free.”

Taking only one dress with her on the plane, Zahra left behind her entire life.  She loved to paint and studied under a professional back home. 

“I used to paint back home with oil color,” she said.

She was one of three women on the Afghanistan National Snowboarding team. 

“The team had 12 people, and the rest were all boys,” Zahra said. “I took first position in Pakistan’s international competition.”

It’s been difficult for her to find passion again for what she truly loves.

“I want to paint again and have one more chance at being a real artist,” she said. “I feel like what if I do it again and I lose all those paintings that I worked for?”

Zahra is one of 147 women who attended AUW. They fled Afghanistan together.  

Brooke Haley is the director of UWM’s English Language Academy. She works closely with Zahra and the other nine students. 

“Last fall, we were asked to welcome up to 10 students at Fort McCoy at the time, and we were able to commit to 10, thanks to the folks at Eastbrook Church,” Haley said.

UWM became connected with Eastbrook Church through Mari Chevako, a senior lecturer at the English Language Academy. 

Eastbrook Church raised enough funds, entirely through donations, to pay for the students’ first year at UWM.

They are fundraising now to continue doing so, as the women begin their undergraduate degrees in the next year. To donate, click here.

The church also connected each student with a host family in the Milwaukee area.   

“These women were chosen for AUW because of their incredible leadership skills and their vision for their own lives,” Haley said. “UWM would be lucky to keep them for their whole undergraduate experience and that’s our goal, but they’re free to make choices and any university would be lucky to have them.”

Zahra was an advocate in Kabul for women and children. She spoke out about the importance of their rights and did media interviews on the subject.

She’s continuing that work as much as she can from Wisconsin. 

“I am working with a group of women who were victims of a bomb explosion in one of the high schools where I used to live,” Zahra said. “I’m helping them have school supplies and books and I’m helping them out with online studying.”

Haley said Zahra and the other women are working to get asylum status.    

“We have to be careful of portraying this image of how lucky they are to be in the United States because they didn’t ask for this,” Haley said. “They wanted to go to university and then go back to their countries and help the women in their countries.”

Zahra scrolled through pictures on Google of Afghanistan, hoping to find something beautiful to paint that reminds her of home. It was nearly impossible.

“I hope to see different beautiful places of my country on Google, but it’s all a war,” she said. “It’s really hard and every time I see these pictures, I get really emotional because it’s not all about war.”

In her grief, Zahra said she is thankful. She’s thankful to still be going to college in a country where she is free. 

“That’s what I love about the United States, that I get to be myself,” she said. “I’m figuring out what I’m interested in right now, but I’m really interested in artificial intelligence and technology.”

Zahra walked into her English 101 class and sat in the front. She showed up early and ready to learn. While she learns a new language and a new culture, she hopes others learn about hers.

“Afghanistan exists,” she said. “Women are there and children are there and every day, they are suffering.”

She hopes Americans become more open-minded about issues and countries that need their attention.

“Look at the big picture of humanity,” Zahra said. “I want to help people from the United States to think differently.”

UWM has organized a workshop at the end of October to help these students fill out their FAFSA forms. The federal government is allowing them to do that while they’re seeking asylum.