Under its interpretation of Islamic law, the Taliban notoriously banned girls from attending school past grade six after taking control of the country in 2021.
In Afghanistan it is illegal for women to attend university, and it is also illegal for women to travel alone, so approaching passport control checkpoints in the country unaccompanied by male guardians would have placed the young women at great risk.
Creating the Scholars at Risk cohort
David Awram, senior vice president and Imola Gotz, VP Mining & Engineering at Sandstorm Gold Royalties learned about 11 students’ plight that year. They teamed up with Friba Rezayee, founder of the non-profit Women Leaders of Tomorrow (WLOT) to work with UBC to get the women emergency acceptances and student visas and liaise with Kazakh officials and the Canadian Embassy to manage deadlines for the cohorts’ existing visas and with the Canadian Embassy.
They joined forces with Nadine…
