Dear you,

Thanks to your continued support, 5 Afghan women and their families have now received humanitarian visas to Brazil — and the first family is flying out on July 10. This is a moment of deep joy and gratitude. Every signature, every message, every donation has helped make this possible. 🙏

But the work is far from over.

We are now entering the most dangerous period of this mission.

⏳ The Pakistani government has set June 30 as a deadline to end visa extensions for Afghan refugees. This means that many of the brave women human rights defenders (WHRDs) we are supporting — women who fled Taliban persecution and now live in hiding — may be trapped without options.

🚨 What’s happening on the ground?

In a closed-door video call on June 26 between HeartWork, Food for Thought Afghanistan (FFTA), Avaaz, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the following devastating realities were shared:

• Refugees are now returning illegally through unsafe routes, paying bribes, arriving undocumented, and too afraid to return to their former neighborhoods for fear of arrest or being reported.
• The IRC no longer asks for legal documentation to provide emergency services. Everyone who shows up — documented or not — is offered whatever limited help is available: basic healthcare, psychosocial support, a few hours of safety.
• Single women and girls without a male guardian ("mahram") are being held in detention-like centers in Afghanistan, some worse than prisons. There is rampant sexual abuse and total lack of oversight.
• Child marriage and trafficking are on the rise. Families are marrying off teenage daughters — or selling them — in exchange for food or security.
• Emergency shelters in Pakistan are overwhelmed. Most only offer up to 2–3 weeks of safety. The system is collapsing under the weight of need.
• Transport to embassies is unsafe and inconsistent. Activists cannot move freely due to fear of arrest, extortion, or worse.

🎥 Want to know more?

We’ve uploaded the video of our June 9 session with petition signers, where we speak openly about the situation, our strategy, and the people behind this work. Watch it here: 📺 https://youtu.be/RkzcCKAJ3jY 

We’re also sharing a short documentary about trapped Afghan women. It provides a glimpse of their life since the Taliban came into power— and now trapped in Pakistan, without a place to go and impoverished.  Watch their story here: 🎬 https://youtu.be/jDIEgFeNm04

🤝 Connect directly
 If you want to speak with the Afghan WHRDs currently in the program, we’ve opened a few intimate online conversation spaces. Hear their voices. See their courage. Sign up here: https://calendly.com/nadja-muller/afghan-whrd-direct-talk

🆘 Our funding gap is still USD 700,000.

We urgently need funds to:

• Cover flights and legal exit fees
• Provide food, shelter, and safe housing
• Offer psychosocial and medical support
• Ensure safe accompaniment to embassies
• Help families survive until they can leave

Every donation — large or small — is a lifeline.

If everyone who reads this message gives EUR 3 to 10, we can bring them home.

 💸 Donations:

 Name: HeartWork Stichting

https://heartwork.earth/peacework/

 IBAN: NL19TRIO 0320270416
 SWIFT/ BIC: TRIONL2UXXX
 Reference: SaveAfghanWomen

📩 Include your email address in the description if you’d like a donation receipt. 

💬 Almost 1 million people have signed.

510.000 on change.org and 453,120 have signed the sister petition by Avaaz

We ask, from the heart: will you help carry the next woman to safety?

Each act of care — each donation, each signature, each story shared — becomes a part of something larger. A path. A lifeline. A message: you are not forgotten.

And in the midst of all this urgency, we hold space for the deeper truth that guides us — the quiet knowing that every life deserves safety, dignity, and the freedom to love.

You do not have to be good.
 You do not have to walk on your knees
 For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
 You only have to let the soft animal of your body
 love what it loves.

— "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver

Thank you for walking beside us.

 With care and determination,
Nadja & Team

#LetHerFly #SafePassageNow #SaveAfghanWomen #HumanRights #ActNow