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.
Part 1: One Backpack
“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.
Part 2: Arrival
“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.
Part 3: Another Page
“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.
Part 4: Like a Stone
“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.
Part 5: Home Lives
“My daughters will be raised in America, so their lives will be different from mine.”
Some Afghan women in Brattleboro left their country because their husbands had jobs connected to the Afghan military or to the U.S. government evacuation in 2021, which put them in danger. Coming from traditional families, these women focus on the same things in Brattleboro as they did at home: raising their children, practicing their faith, and preserving their culture. But they’re also doing new things, like learning how to drive.
Part 6: Tremendous Journey
“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.”
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.
