With the help of many friends here, my brother Frank Rodriguez and I are grateful to have gotten 24
Afghan activist and LGBT+ refugees to safety in the last year,
including many to Canada. Just last week we successfully evacuated a
lesbian human rights defender and her 5 daughters, and a young gay
activist who is almost finished with his veterinary degree.
We now face a crisis and an opportunity: we
have 5 remaining refugees in Afghanistan. These women, human rights
defenders, and LGBT+ are being actively hunted by the Taliban and face
persecution, prison, death or forced marriage and rape. However, Canada
has graciously invited these at-risk refugees in Afghanistan to come to
Canada to become permanent residents, and then citizens. Since Canada
has no embassy in Afghanistan, they must travel to a nearby country by
the end of January, before this invitation expires.
We
are raising $30,000 to transport them out of Afghanistan (paying for
their transportation, visas, and accommodations while they wait in an
interim location to be flown to Canada). 100% of your tax deductible
donation goes directly to the refugees for their safe passage and care.
When Canada offers an invitation to refugees, their government program
provides a year of financial support, free medical care, and language
and career education. For refugees fleeing harm from the Taliban, it's a
golden ticket to a hopeful future so these invitations are both hard to
get and not to be taken for granted. But first we have to sneak them
out of Afghanistan (dangerous) and support them in another country while
they wait for their flight to Canada (often months of waiting).
We
are now collaborating with one of the most effective and agile refugee
rescue organizations in the U.S., a 501c3 called SCM Medical Missions in
Seattle. This week, we created a special fund to rescue these refugees,
called the Freedom Partners Fund, at SCM. All donations are 100% tax
deductible and directly to fund the evacuation of these refugees out of
Afghanistan by the January 31st deadline. This is a completely
volunteer operation, with no staff or overhead.
If
you are moved to contribute again by the promise of these 5 people and
the extraordinary invitation from Canada, please donate now at this
special landing page, by credit card, Paypal, or check. A donation of ANY AMOUNT would be helpful to raising the $30,000 needed.
Happy New Year! We would be glad to answer any questions you may have about our LGBTQI refugee work.
Joe and Frank Rodriguez
P.S. Feel free to share this post to interested friends and family members.
No comments:
Post a Comment