– As of today, I see no future for these children.
Norwegian-Afghan Hamideh Rezai wins. She is a daily bus driver in Oslo, but also runs an aid organization in Kabul.
The organization fights for the future of children and single mothers in Afghanistan. They ensure that a total of 250 children can go to school.
The children are either orphaned or caged with their mother. They have no breadwinners, ie men, in the family, something that makes the situation extra difficult for those now that the Taliban have power.
– It is women and children who are most exposed to violence. Young women are not allowed to work, and the children are not allowed to go to school, Rezai said.
– The children and mothers are in danger
There are many women who fear for their future in Afghanistan no. The Taliban say they want to allow women to get an education and work, but many doubt the group’s new promises.
Rezai is particularly afraid of the older girls, who she fears may be forcibly married to grown men.
– I have 80-90 girls who are over 12 years old in my organization, and I am very, very afraid of them, she says.
Hamideh and her husband Abdol Vahab Rezai want Norway to help evacuate women and children in Kabul.
Photo: Helge Tvedten / NRK
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Now she is asking the Norwegian authorities to evacuate them here.
“Actually, the whole of Afghanistan needs help now, but these children do not have dependents, and both the children and the mothers are in danger,” says Rezai.
There are a total of 350 fathers who support the children in the Nest of Hope and pay for their schooling.
– I, and all the children’s fathers, want them to be brought here so that they can study further, have a good life and a good future, says Rezai.
The children know what is happening
Rezai has run the organization since 2017. During a visit to Kabul, she saw all the children walking around the streets without food and school. She then learned that it was because they were orphaned or did not have a father.
She says the children know what is happening in Afghanistan now, and that they are scared.
– Girls can be taken by the Taliban, or women are not allowed to work. It is the Taliban who decide over them, she says.
Volunteers usually help with food, clothing and follow-up for the women and children, but since the Taliban arrived in Kabul, relief efforts have stopped.
So far, 374 people have been evacuated to Norway. Rezai says it is urgent to evacuate more people.
– My strongest wish is that they will be brought here. Then their future will be brighter.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not have the opportunity to be interviewed. In an e-mail to NRK, communications adviser Ane Haavardsdatter Lunde writes that they can not comment on individual cases or the assessments made during the evacuation, out of consideration for the duty of confidentiality.
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