The Afghan Women of Brattleboro #5: Home Lives

“There is a lot of change from the beginning up to now, and we are still learning every day.” The experience of resettling in Brattleboro has changed not only the Afghan women who had to rebuild their lives, but also the people and the town that helped them do it. There are many challenges—a housing shortage, the loss of federal funding that supports refugee programs, pockets of resentment among local residents. But in the words of one longtime Brattleboro citizen, the town has learned a lot “about resiliency, support, and what really matters.” The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

“Many of us who are here in Brattleboro ... we had a good life in Afghanistan.” Afghan women in their 40s and 50s grew up surrounded by war. They went to school off and on, depending on how much violence was happening in their neighborhoods. They raised children. Many built careers. But those careers put them in danger when the Taliban returned in 2021. Today these women face the double burden of supporting themselves and their families in Brattleboro and also their families back home. The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

“I grew up with all these stories, all this history. How can I accept in one night, everything is changed?” Many young women who came of age during Afghanistan’s 20 years of democracy went to high school and university and were charting their futures when the Taliban took power. Their lives were in danger so they fled. In Afghanistan, they had been academic powerhouses, artists, educators, rising business managers. In Brattleboro, they started over. The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

“Is any place in the United States of America called Vermont?” As Afghan women left their country and embarked on a journey halfway around the world, they mourned their losses: family, homes, careers, comfort. They mourned their loss of Afghanistan. They landed in Vermont, a place they’d never heard of before. A brand new resettlement agency and a cadre of volunteers were waiting for them. The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

“The day the Taliban took control of our country, how much we cried no one can imagine.” When the fundamentalist Taliban seized power in 2021, Afghan citizens were shocked and terrified. They fled the country for different reasons: their education, jobs, or activism put them in danger; they were connected to the Afghan military or a western government; or all of the above. The U.S. evacuated close to 80,000 Afghans. Some were destined for Brattleboro, Vermont. The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.