Afghan woman can't go home

Not to be too dramatic, I am writing about a matter of life and death.  Last summer we agreed to take in an Occidental College rising senior, a young woman from Afghanistan, who needed a place to stay for the summer.  Her name is Fatema.  She is so special, we have all but adopted her.  I certainly have a mother's concern for her. 

Against all odds, Fatema just graduated from Occidental (she was one of 2 graduates who got a big hug from the President of the college during the ceremony), and must find a job here. Otherwise, she has to go back to Afghanistan where her cousin has vowed to kill her as she is a "whore who has brought dishonor to the family"--that would be because she was educated in the West. Fatema was with us last summer when her father called her and told her if she returns, he will not be able to protect her.  It was devastating.  

She speaks seven languages!  Pashto, the language of the Taliban; Urdu, the language of Pakistan; Farsi, the language of Iran; Dari, the main language of Afghanistan; Hindi, the main language of India; English and conversational Arabic.  Her degree is in Diplomacy and World Affairs.  What she has done to get where she is would make your head spin.  Less most of the details, here are the highlights...

Fatema's father was a member of the Mujahadin, freedom fighters who fought against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.  Under the Russian occupation, he realized that he had no alternative but to flee Afghanistan with his wife and seven children, crossing the trecherous mountains into Pakistan, only to end up in a refugee camp for five years.  There Fatema was able to go to a UNICEF-sponsored elementary school until her father found housing in a primative two-room apartment in Peshawar.  After the Taliban took over, Fatema's father went back and forth between Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. 

Even though Afghans were treated with utter contempt by the Pakistanis, Fatema continued her education in a public school in Peshawar.  Her grades were so high, she was able to enter a college there where she earned a bashelor's degree in botany.  

After the fall of the Taliban, her father took the family back to Afghanistan.  With the English she had learned in college, she was able to get a job in a Kabul guest house patronized mostly by foreigners.  It was there an American NATO officer offered to sponsor her to attend an English as a Second Language program near his home in Wilmington, NC.  As she was about to be married off to an older relative she didn't even know, she jumped at the chance.  With the surreptitious help of her mother and sisters, she was able to make her way to Kabul International Airport and leave Afghanistan.

Leaving her country without the suzerainty of a man--never mind to be educated--was the what made her a pariah to the men in her family.  In Afghanistan, for a woman simply to leave her house without a man is culturally unacceptable.  There was no turning back.

At the end of the ESL program, with her four month visa about to expire, Fatema was desperate to find a way to remain in the US.  On the internet, she discovered that the California Conservation Corps needed bodies and could extend her visa.  She made her way to San Louis Obispo where she donned a hard hat and logging boots and did manual labor for five months.  In her free time, she searched the internet for educational opportunities.  With the help of the Feminist Majority Foundation, she was able to attend Cuesta Community College where she received an associate's degree in political science.  Her stellar grades enabled her to tranfer to Occidental College, where, on a full scholarship, she earned her bachelor's degree in May.

Now comes the hard part.  This extraordinary, intelligent, courageous, preceptive, kind and thoughtful woman needs to find a way to stay in the US legally. She has considered applying for asylum.  However, without written proof of her cousin's determination to kill her, it would be too risky a route.  If she fails, she goes right back to Kabul.  

Fatema needs a job with an organization or company that can sponsor her in obtaining an H1-B visa or a green card.  Several organizations whose missions are to support oppressed women in conflict or post conflict countries have only offered internships, with no help in securing legal status in the US.  In December, her visa expires.  Either we find her a job that can allow her to stay here legally or she goes back to Afghanistan where the angry men in her family are waiting to bring honor back to their family name.

She has met with the State Deptartment because they were interested in her language skills.  Sadly, she has to have a green card before State can hire her.  The government does not sponsor people to get green cards.

Can you think of any way to help us help her?