Ten women from the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association and wider community will run the Richmond Half Marathon on Sunday 16 April.
The team is raising money for impoverished families in Afghanistan, whose lives have been devastated by the Taliban and the extreme winter weather.
The Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan
60% of Afghans are facing extreme levels of hunger, with 6 million on the brink of famine
36% of Afghan children suffer from stunted growth.
80% of girls and young women are out of education because the Taliban closed secondary schools and universities to them.
Afghanistan is 5th most at-risk country to climate change.
How to Help
Donations will be facilitated by Moneygram and distributed by ACAA former staff on the ground.
£38 would pay for an emergency first aid package.
£50 would pay for an emergency food package for child relief.
£77 would pay for wood, a heater, and wood burner oil to warm a house.
About the Runners
Lucy is a volunteer at the ACAA, who has supported various projects over the last few years. Lucy will also be doing an Olympic triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run) on 12th June raising money for this fund.
Newsha is a computer engineer graduate, and has recently arrived to the UK. She is a volunteer at ACAA, helps with women's projects, and currently working more on social media, and interpretation for the centre.
Shabnam is a social and political activist, writer and commentator, rooted in women’s rights and feminist foreign policy. She is a former Policy Advisor to the UK Minister for Refugees.
Ghazal is a GCSE student and a volunteer at the ACAA, supporting with translation and women's project. She is also a an ESOL teaching assistant.
Rabia works at the UK Civil Service. She fled the Taliban as a child and continues to advocate for Afghans making similar journeys.
Sara is the Mental health and wellbeing coordinator at ACAA. She gives mental health seminar's and runs the computer classes one day a week. She graduated from Psychology from the University of Roehampton in 2021, and also continued to do her Master's and a PG Cert.
Sheekeba coordinates legal advice services at the ACAA and runs monthly pro bono advice sessions with local law firms. Sheekeba is also currently a law student at The University of Law.
Riya is the Women's Empowerment Project Coordinator at ACAA. She has completed her Master's in International Relations of the Americas at UCL, and is passionate about development, public policy and women's rights.
Isabel works at the UK Civil Service. Through her work at the Liberty Lines Project, she is making an educational comic book about the risks of county lines exploitation in the UK, which includes a focus on protecting refugee children from exploitation.
About ACAA
The ACAA was founded in 2001 by Dr Nasimi, who arrived in the UK with his young family in the back of a lorry having fled the Taliban in 1999. The charity provides individuals with the necessary skills, support and knowledge so they can prosper in the UK.
In Afghanistan the ACAA has provided legal support for the marginalised people in the country, including victims of domestic violence and female prisoners. The ACAA is proud to have run women’s empowerment and human rights projects funded by the US and Canadian embassies, as well as projects involving internally displaced people.
Following the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in August 2021, the ACAA lobbied MPs on behalf of Afghan families in the UK who wanted to evacuate their at-risk family members. Countless donations were also distributed to evacuated Afghan families in a huge operation that involved hundreds of volunteers.
The ACAA is now welcoming recently arrived refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine to join its many projects including English language classes, employment workshops, women’s support groups, Saturday school, family support services, drop-in and telephone advice, volunteer placements, and social and cultural events.