Photo Credit: Vermont Public & Elizabeth Ungerleider
After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in the fall of 2021, the U.S. evacuated tens of thousands of Afghans whose lives were in danger. About 100 of them ended up as refugees in Brattleboro. Among them was a group of women who share their stories in a new podcast series.
In many ways, the Afghan women who resettled in Brattleboro are completely different from each other. But they share a religion and a culture, and they all fled a brutal fundamentalist regime in Afghanistan. They all left behind people and places they love, and the lives they expected to live.
They had to forge a new path for themselves in Brattleboro, which is literally on the other side of the world from their home. Their arrival brought change — not just for the women themselves but for the local residents who helped them settle in, and also for Brattleboro as a whole.
This series was produced by Elissa Pine and Jennifer Sutton of Two Daughters Productions, with support from Vermont Public’s Made Here Fund. Find it in Vermont Public Docs, our podcast feed for longform audio journalism. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Listen on Two Daughters Productions or Vermont Public