From Kabul to Krispy Kreme: An Afghan Girl’s Journey to America — Sunday, April 10

A ninth grader at George School, will speak about her journey to and in America to the adult class at the Newtown Quaker Meetinghouse, 219 Court Street, on Sunday, April 10 at 9:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship in the manner of Friends will begin at 11 a.m. The public is invited to attend both events.

Her topic will be “From Kabul to Krispy Kreme: An Afghan Girl’s Journey to America”

According to her “American Mom,” the student currently has terrific grades at George School and she has made a number of friends from various countries as well as the US. “Her roommate is from Hong Kong and they became very fast friends. They enjoy watching a movie or dancing to expend some energy after studying.”

Her American Mom went on to say, “She is working very hard on her English composition, making great progress with math, and learning a lot of history. She is excited to have the opportunity to experience the arts and is currently taking piano lessons and loves her ceramics class! In the fall she played developmental soccer, in the winter she played basketball and she is now trying softball. She has had many wonderful opportunities.”

In her remarks, the Afghan student will describe her George School experience as well as her family’s roots in Afghanistan and their move as refugees to Pakistan as the war raged in their home town. The student, her two sisters and one brother were raised by their mother, a tailor, after their father was killed in a building collapse more than a decade ago.

Just four years ago while attending primary school in her home town of Jalalabad, the young Afghan was put in contact with School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA), an organization working to provide global educational opportunities to promising young Afghan women. Speaking Pashto and Urdu but barely a word of English, she enrolled in an intensive Sola program in Kabul to prepare her for study abroad.

In September 2014 she arrived in the USA and lived with Newtown Friends Meeting members, Renee Noel and Wayne Heacock and their two daughters Emily and Charlotte in Newtown while she attended eighth grade at Newtown Friends School. The student says life at Newtown Friends School last year was “rewarding and difficult. My teachers were warm and supportive but the work was demanding. And my year living with my host family was a terrific experience. They welcomed me and made me feel a part of the family.”

She says she is thrilled to now be a boarding student at George School where she has been awarded a scholarship. Supporters of hers have contributed additional funds for a computer, school supplies, piano lessons and incidentals.

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