On April 15, Dr. Sakena Yacoobi visited UPF in Birmingham to share her story in front of an audience of about 100.
In her speech, Dr. Yacoobi talk shared about her childhood growing up in Afghanistan, before the country plunged into war. She expressed how her father deeply encouraged her to pursue education, even though girls’ education was not an orthodox practice.
As political tension, and eventually war, rose with the Soviet Union, Sakena’s parents sent her to the U.S. to pursue higher education. That she did and secured a stable life for herself that allowed her to bring her family to America where they were safe from the clutches of war.
However, she herself was not complacent to stay within the confines of personal security. Her heart was for Afghanistan and its people who cried for help. So, after the Soviet-Afghan War ended, she returned home to help her people, who had now been ravaged by the war.
Dr. Yacoobi began helping poor refugee communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan by training teachers to education and raise children with a parental heart. Her movement began as a whisper, but it grew to the point it wasn’t just training teachers and providing education, but it was also managing hospitals, orphanages, a radio broadcasting station, legal firms and more.
After she had given her speech, the audience, comprised of so many different faiths and cultural spheres, collectively donated £600 to her cause.
