After facing deportation from Qatar following USAID cuts, 3 Afghan women find refuge at U of Regina

Spogmai Hashemi says when she stepped outside Regina’s airport and felt the cold Saskatchewan breeze hit her face, she was immediately hit with a sense of nostalgia and homesickness.   

Unlike Qatar, where she had been living, both Canada and Afghanistan — where she's originally from — have cold winters.

But Hashemi says she was also filled with a feeling of safety after finally reaching Canada.  

"I know where I’m standing. I’m in a safe land and I’m on land of right and freedoms," Hashemi said. 

It was the end of a long journey that started years earlier in Kabul, at the American University of Afghanistan, before the Taliban resumed power. The 2021 takeover forced Hashemi and her fellow students to flee to Qatar in order to pursue their degrees. 

She and dozens of other women were attending universities in Qatar on scholarships completely funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, program. With its closure earlier this year, they were at risk of being deported back to Afghanistan, where girls can only attend school up to Grade 6 and women are barred from universities — rules the women had broken in Qatar.     

"Even when I was inside the airplane, I was still thinking maybe something will happen," said Hashemi, describing her anxiety on the flight to Regina, as she worried there would be further immigration issues. 

Instead, Hashemi and two other Afghan scholars were met at the airport by University of Regina staff and were greeted with hugs from Friba Rezayee, the woman who spearheaded the efforts to get them to Saskatchewan.

The three women will start classes at the U of R in January. They are the first of 25 to 30 Afghan women whom Rezayee’s non-profit, Women Leaders of Tomorrow, and the university are hoping to bring to Saskatchewan. 

"They were in a dire, critical, horrible situation," said Rezayee. "Qatar doesn't have any pathway for resettlement for refugees."

Even working as a woman in the Middle Eastern country can be difficult, she said. 

The U of R’s Project Resilience scholarship program — which helps students affected by war or political violence in their home countries study at the school — and Women Leaders of Tomorrow were able to raise more than $815,000 to bring the women to Saskatchewan. 

But between political red tape and Canada’s cap on international students, Rezayee said getting the first three students to Regina was "very difficult."

Between the politics, fundraising and multiple setbacks, "this is definitely one of the biggest challenges I've ever taken on in girls' education and women’s education in Afghanistan," she said.