It took days, immense bravery, and several loops around the airport by bus as gunfire erupted around them for the group of young women to escape Afghanistan when the Taliban took over in August 2021.
Their final attempt came at 1 a.m. The group—150 in total—made it out on one of the last civilian flights from Kabul.
It wasn’t until the plane was well on its way—and for some, even until it touched down in Washington, DC—that they knew they were coming to the U.S. For nine of the women, the ultimate destination was the Ithaca campus. Now, nearly four years later, six of them are poised to graduate with the Class of ’25, while the others are continuing their undergraduate educations on the Hill.
It’s a Friday in late April, and four of the classmates have gathered on the Arts Quad to share their story with Cornellians.
Through Global Cornell (the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs) and its “scholars under threat” initiative, the University offered extensive support to help them get acclimated and to succeed—including financial aid, specialized orientation sessions and tours, donated laptops, and care packages, as well as cultural training for the staff assigned to help them.
For Ayubi, who will graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences with a major in psychology, that initial year was a combination of numbness and denial.
“I needed time to figure out how I could be a better version of myself regardless of what had happened to me,” she says. “That was going to be very slow, but I would be stronger.”
Ayubi began working in the Mathematics Library, became vice president of a student photography club, and joined two groups that promote mental health and wellbeing on the Hill.
“I found my place here in a welcoming community,” says Ayubi, who hopes to become a therapist, “and I feel like I really belong.”
Read the full story on the Cornellians website.
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