Sometimes, in the middle of so much uncertainty, a small beam of light appears. Today we are able to share such a moment.

Hadisa Hashemi and her two daughters have received humanitarian visas from the French Embassy.
Their flight is scheduled for December 11, and I will travel from the Netherlands to Paris to welcome them when they land.

Hadisa’s story has been one of both unimaginable fear and extraordinary strength. She escaped a violent husband who joined the Taliban, managed to secure a divorce, and fled to Pakistan only to face new threats there. When I first spoke with her, she was hiding on a mountain outside Islamabad with her daughters, moving at dawn and dusk to avoid stalkers, police checks, and deportation teams.

For the past six months, your donations covered their shelter, food, and basic utilities, keeping them alive in a system that does not want them to survive.
 Now, after years of running, they are finally stepping into safety. And soon, I will meet them in person for the first time.

In the picture above you see her protesting with her daughters and friends for the “De-violence against women” week.

Medical crisis worsens

But while one family is getting ready to board a plane, the situation for countless others in Afghanistan and Pakistan is growing darker by the day. One of our team members sent this update, and with his permission, I share parts of it with you:

“The medical crisis is worsening. Because the border with Pakistan has been closed for weeks, medicine and food prices are rising every day. Winter infections like measles and chickenpox are spreading quickly. Children are dying daily. Hospitals — both government and private — are running out of essential supplies. Doctors are forbidden to speak publicly. Even their own reporting systems are silenced.”

Arrests and deportations in Pakistan are escalating

 Over the past week alone:

• In Rawalpindi and Tarinri, more than 400 human rights and women’s rights defenders were beaten and detained.
• Around 350 were deported, without due process.
• At least 900 Afghans were arrested in one sweep.
• Three well-known journalists disappeared after detention.
• Nine prominent activists have vanished entirely.

Among them is the father of young Hamesha Bahar, the girl who once sang at the FFTA programme last June. Her entire family is now inside Haji Camp in Pakistan and will be deported tomorrow morning unless something shifts.

Meanwhile, families already living in exile are being pushed into extreme vulnerability. Dr Yama wrote that his elderly parents and sister — both diabetic and cardiac patients — were forced out of their home and now sleep in a small agricultural guardroom. He tried to bring them to his location, but police checkpoints stop Afghans and even Pakistanis, demanding documents and detaining those who cannot produce them. Moving across the city has become a life-or-death calculation.

Pregnant women remain among the most at risk

Mareefa, one of the women we support, is expecting and may require emergency surgery. She reached Islamabad safely this week, and we managed to rent a small room with a kitchen and bathroom for her. Quiet, clean, hidden. But because landlords refuse to rent legally to Afghans, we had to do this unofficially and at an inflated price.

And then there is the ongoing medical emergency of Rahela, who has a severe bilateral facial condition. Her first surgery has been completed. Infection is subsiding. The doctor is hopeful. But she will need two to four more procedures, and the estimated cost has risen to 560,000 PKR due to complications.

She cried when she heard donors had helped her  and asked me to thank you.
 She said she prays for you every night.

All of this is happening quietly, in the shadows, while winter settles in.

It is one of those moments when Rumi’s words feel painfully accurate:

“Sorrow prepares you for joy.
 It violently sweeps everything out of your house,
 so that new joy can find space to enter…
 Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart,
 far better things will take their place.”

For Hadisa and her daughters, the sorrow of the past years is finally making room for something new.
 For so many others, the sweeping is still happening — harshly, relentlessly — with no assurance yet of what joy may follow.

Your signatures, your shares, and your donations continue to be lifelines.

• They pay for medical care.
• They pay for safe shelter
• They pay for leadership training.

If you can, please give whatever is possible.
 Even €5 or €10 helps us respond to the emergencies that come in daily.

💸 Donation Details
 HeartWork Stichting – https://heartwork.earth/peacework

Thank you for walking with these families.  Through the sorrow, and toward the space where better things can take root.