DIANA SAYED, GULA BEZHAN & SANAM WAHIDI
While lawyer and CEO Diana Sayed was at the forefront of the Action for Afghanistan movement in Australia last year, she’s quick to emphasise that it was a collective effort.
“We were an ad hoc group of lawyers, public health professionals, teachers, academics, elders and youth community organisers,” she says, highlighting in particular the work of Mariam Veiszadeh and Shabnam Safa. “We were a collective of concerned people from Afghanistan, many of us ourselves refugees, who trauma-bonded and came together … We wanted to see some sort of justice, accountability and action from the Australian government, given our 20-year [military] engagement
[in Afghanistan].”
The #ActionForAfghanistan hashtag went viral, and the group’s tireless, ongoing work saw the government announce in March an additional 16,500 humanitarian visas for Afghans. “Our next huge objective is around securing a commitment for pathways to permanent protection for those people who came to Australia and are still on Temporary Protection Visas,” says Sayed. “There are about 8000 who are here living in limbo.”
Gulghotai “Gula” Bezhan, founder and CEO of the Afghan Women’s Organisation Victoria, has turned her attention to grassroots action. “I’m working on an underground education project in
Kabul,” she shares. “In the back of my house in Afghanistan I am running a ‘religious’ class for girls and young mothers, because when the Taliban see that they [don’t mind]. But when you go inside it’s [actually] numeracy and literacy lessons.”
Bezhan’s daughter, youth activist Sanam Wahidi, 21, worked with her mum last year to create 600 care packs for Afghan refugees arriving in Victorian hotel quarantine. “We provided culturally appropriate food and clothing,” says Wahidi. “If we could provide them with that small sense of home, we knew it would go a long way.
“Right now we are working with Afghans who have come to Australia and, despite the trauma of leaving their country, they’re always happy and willing to learn,” she continues.
“I really fear for the future of women and children in Afghanistan, but I do have hope for humanity. If we can continue having a humanitarian lens and an acceptance lens, there might be some hope for a better future for Afghanistan.”