THE THREE SISTERS GROUP
PHASE 3

GOAL: $100,000

Help reunite all 14 members of the Habibyar family in Canada!

When the Taliban took over in Afghanistan, the entire Habibyar family had to flee because of  their affiliation with the international community as well as the sisters’ feminist activism. They had to leave their friends, loved ones, and homes behind.

Our sponsorship team, The 3 Sisters Group, has already been successful in supporting eight members of the Habibyar family.

Oranus arrived July 11, 2022, and is currently completing a master’s degree at York University.

Forozan, Nasir, and their three children arrived safely in Canada on April 14, 2023. The children started school, Forozan began English classes, and Nasir successfully passed his G2 driver’s licence and has been actively looking for employment.

Forozan's sisters, Roya and Rohina, arrived in Canada on May 24, 2023. Our sponsorship group has been helping them get settled. Roya has already connected with a prospective job opportunity for which she is a strong candidate!

Our experience so far is that all of these family members are remarkably resilient, capable, and very supportive of each other. We have no doubt that they will be able to create good lives for themselves in Canada.

We are proud of the work we have done to bring these eight family members to Canada and are grateful for the overwhelming support we have received from many people including the community of St. Thomas’s Church. For all of us, it has been an opportunity to make a direct difference in the lives of people who are facing an unimaginable situation.

However, there is more work for us to do.

The Three Sisters Sponsorship Group is now focused on undertaking sponsorship of the remaining family members to come safely to Canada.

This includes two applications for six individuals, as follows:

  1.  One application for Mitra Habibyar, her husband, Baktash, and their two young children, Avicenna (4) and Zeus (2). Baktash was a civil engineer in Afghanistan. His involvement in supporting safety and security through his engineering work for western construction projects and NATO armed forces has made him a target of the Taliban.

  2. A second application for Sarajuddin Habibyar and Abedah Habibyar, the parents of Mitra, Forozan, Roya, and Rohina. Before fleeing Afghanistan, Mr. Habibyar taught literacy and numeracy to the national police of Afghanistan. When his colleagues were murdered by the Taliban and others were kidnapped, his life came under direct threat, and he fled Afghanistan for Turkey. The fall of Afghanistan in August 2021 meant that a return to the country would lead to the persecution and torture of Mr. Habibyar and his family by the now ruling extremist group.  

These six members of the Habibyar family are currently in Turkey on temporary visas. Turkey has been refusing to extend the temporary visas of Afghan refugees and has even been revoking temporary visas and sending people back to Afghanistan. Mitra’s husband’s request to extend his visa has recently been denied by the Turkish government. Without a pending sponsorship agreement, this family would have no choice but to go into hiding, flee to another country, or be sent into the hands of the Taliban. We feel compelled and committed to help them come to Canada to join their family here and make a new home. 

We are working with the support of Aura for Refugees, a Canadian charitable organization assisting in the sponsorship and resettlement of refugees, as well as St. Thomas’s Anglican Church, as the official sponsorship agreement holder, to bring the remaining six members of the Habibyar family to Canada.

100% of the funds we raise will go towards the costs of living—primarily food, transportation, clothing, and housing—for their first year in Canada.

About The 3 Sisters Group
The formal sponsorship team is made up of 12 Canadians and 3 New Zealanders. We are asking for your support to help raise the funds required by the Canadian government to resettle and reunite the family in the Greater Toronto Area, where most of us live and will offer support for their first year of life in Canada.

One of the brothers, Tariq, who had worked closely with international governments and organizations in Afghanistan, was based in New Zealand for the past 10 years. After failed attempts to bring his family members to safety in New Zealand, Tariq reached out to friends with contacts in other countries that support refugees. Through a line of loose connection, we formed a constellation to help the family. Tariq was recently offered a postdoctoral fellowship at York University, Toronto, and has come to Canada with his wife and daughter to join his sisters.

On behalf of this family, thank you for your generous contributions towards their resettlement in Canada. All Canadian donations are eligible for a tax receipt. 

The Canadian Sponsorship Team: Johnathan Clancy, Zoe Newman, Dinah Thorpe, Allyson Mitchell, Deirdre Logue, Chris Mitchell, Michael Evans, Julia Gruson-Wood, C. Goldberg, Callum and Christine Tyrrell, Kathryn Dennler.

The New Zealand Support Crew: Matthijs Siljee, Julia Kohlhaas, and Darcie Stumpf

The Three Sisters Group

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Mitra and family. (The  adults' faces are blurred for their protection.)