The Vulnerable People Project, a Catholic charity based in the United States, is helping 20 teenage Afghan girls build a new life after an ISIS terrorist attack on Sept. 30, 2022, left them seriously injured and in dire need of medical treatment. / Credit: Vulnerable People Project
Washington D.C., Mar 28, 2023 / 09:08 am (CNA).
The Vulnerable People Project (VPP), a Catholic charity based in the United States, is helping 20 teenage Afghan girls build a new life after an ISIS terrorist attack on Sept. 30, 2022, left them seriously injured and in dire need of medical treatment.
The 20 girls were taking a practice university entrance exam at Kaaj Hazara Education Center in Kabul when a suicide bomber hit the school. The bombing killed 53 people, including 46 young students, and many more were wounded.
“These women were targeted for two reasons: Because they are women pursuing an education [and] because they belong to a heavily persecuted ethnic minority group,” Marilis Pineiro, legislative and diplomatic relations liaison for the VPP, told CNA.
Jason Jones of the Vulnerable People Project, a Catholic charity based in the United States, is helping 20 teenage Afghan girls build a new life after an ISIS terrorist attack on Sept. 30, 2022, left them seriously injured and in dire need of medical treatment. Credit: Vulnerable People Project
“The Hazaras have long been persecuted in Afghanistan,” Pineiro said, “and after the Taliban took back over Afghanistan after the botched withdrawal in August 2021, their persecution has immensely increased.”
Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, many girls and women across the country have had to discontinue their education. According to UNESCO, 80% of school-aged Afghan girls and women — 2.5 million people — are currently out of school.
The Hazaras are Shia Muslims in Sunni-majority Afghanistan, and the very fact that these girls were even pursuing higher education made them targets.
Jason Jones, the founder and president of VPP, told EWTN News Nightly Friday that the rescue of the girls provides a bit of hope where there has been much despair.
“The Hazara are a minority in Afghanistan that are facing genocide at the hands of ISIS,” Jones said. “Being able to get these young women the medical help they need, being able to see that they can further their education … this is an exciting moment, it gives hope.”
The Vulnerable People Project, a Catholic charity based in the United States, is helping 20 teenage Afghan girls build a new life after an ISIS terrorist attack on Sept. 30, 2022, left them seriously injured and in dire need of medical treatment. Credit: Vulnerable People Project
Now safely in Spain, the girls are being treated at Hospital Ruber Internacional.
Though some need serious operations and have a long road to recovery, the Spanish government has offered the girls visas for resettlement and the VPP has plans to help them afford the university program of their choice.
The VPP is also working on the paperwork to reunite the girls safely with their families in Spain.
As for the other survivors who were not as seriously injured, VPP is working to help them resettle and build their life in another country, which the organization could not disclose.
“They all have very bright futures ahead,” Pineiro said. “We believe that they … [will] contribute greatly back to society in the future.”
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The Syrian flag. / By ART production via Shutterstock.
Rome Newsroom, Mar 15, 2022 / 07:51 am (CNA).
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Kazakh artist Dosbol Kasymov works on the icon “Mother of the Great Steppe” in advance of Pope Francis’ Sept. 13-15 trip to Kazakhstan. / Alexey Gotovsky/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Sep 6, 2022 / 09:03 am (CNA).
A Kazakh artist is creating possibly the first-ever painting of Mary and the Child Jesus as native Kazakhs; it will be displayed in Kazakhstan’s only Marian shrine.
It is hoped that the icon, in the form of a triptych, will be blessed by Pope Francis during his Sept. 13-15 visit to the Central Asian country, where more than 70% of the population is Muslim.
The artist, Dosbol Kasymov, told EWTN News in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Aug. 5 that his inspiration for the image came from his culture’s love and reverence for mothers.
Mother is “a common image,” uniting mankind, Kasymov said. “We are all born, we all came into this world thanks to our mothers.”
Titled “The Mother of the Great Steppe,” the large icon was commissioned by Archbishop Tomasz Peta, the head of Kazakhstan’s Catholic diocese, Maria Santissima in Astana.
The Kazakh Steppe is a treeless, semi-desert grassland covering the northern part of the country, south of the Ural Mountains.
Peta told EWTN News last month that the image of the Kazakh Mary and Jesus is intended for Kazakhstan’s only Marian shrine, Mary Queen of Peace, in the town of Ozernoe, about 68 miles southeast of Nur-Sultan.
The painting depicts the Virgin Mary as a Kazakh woman dressed in traditional clothing. In her arms, she holds her baby son, the Child Jesus, held in the robe of an adult man, a sign of his future death and the Roman tunic he will wear on his way to the cross.
Kazakh artist Dosbol Kasymov spoke to EWTN News about his icon “Mother of the Great Steppe” in advance of Pope Francis’ Sept. 13–15 trip to Kazakhstan. Alexey Gotovsky/CNA.
EWTN News spoke to the artist ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Kazakhstan, while the painting was still a work in progress. Kasymov spoke about some of the traditional Kazakh symbols he incorporated into the icon.
“The Kazakh ornaments, like all the ornaments in the world, have their own symbols. The nimbus, it’s made in the form of a star. On one side is a flower, on the other side is a star, and on the other side is a part of the Kazakh carpet ‘Tuskeiz,’” he explained.
Kasymov said the Child Jesus’ halo is in the form of a shanyrak, the emblem of Kazakhstan and a common cultural symbol based on the shape of a cross.
Ethnic Kazakhs are predominantly Sunni Muslims, the most commonly practiced religion in the country. According to a 2009 national census, the second most practiced religion is Russian Orthodox Christianity, at more than 20%. The country, which has approximately 250,000 Latin-rite Catholics, according to 2008 statistics, is also home to many immigrants.
The nationally-acclaimed painter said he hopes his work will be received by the people of Kazakhstan “with love, with warmth, because, above all, it is the image of the mother.”
“Here is my personal opinion: I think that Kazakhs are very tolerant, they easily accept any culture,” he said.
A detail of the palette of artist Dosbol Kasymov in his studio in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Alexey Gotovsky/CNA
The finished icon is expected to include a panel on each side depicting an ethnically Kazakh angel playing traditional musical instruments.
After the image is blessed in Nur-Sultan by Pope Francis, who will visit the city for the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, it will be placed in a new prayer chapel at the Mary Queen of Peace Shrine in Ozernoe.
Peta said the new chapel would be built in the shape of a yurt, the traditional round tent used by nomadic groups in Central Asia. The shrine is also getting a new pilgrim welcome center dedicated to St. John Paul II.
The new chapel “is for all people, regardless of faith and nationality; this yurt will be a meeting place with Mary, and through Mary, with Jesus,” Peta said.
Mary Queen of Peace Shrine in Ozernoe, Kazakhstan. Alexey Gotovsky/CNA
Kasymov said he faced a difficult decision when Peta asked him to create an icon of Mary and the Child Jesus, given that he himself is not Christian, nor even particularly religious.
“When the offer came in to write this work, of course I had my doubts,” he said. “But then I talked to my relatives, brothers, friends and they said, ‘Of course you should write it, it’s our common culture.’”
“The Mother of the Great Steppe” in progress in the studio of artist Dosbol Kasymov on Aug. 5, 2022. Alexey Gotovsky/CNA
Kasymov said he is also interested to see how his depiction of Our Lady of the Steppe interacts with the many European images of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“I want to praise our beauty, too, and I want the beauty of our women, the beauty of our mothers to be understandable,” he said.
He explained that Mary is shown looking away because “Kazakhs consider it not quite right or polite for a woman to look directly into the face of her interlocutor.”
“We say in Kazakh, ‘Tygylyp Karama,’ do not stare straight ahead,” he said. “A woman should not look at the spectator directly, she looks a little into the distance. It’s a trait of modesty and part of etiquette.”
The Virgin Mary’s gaze can also be interpreted to mean that she is thinking about the future, that “she senses what is going to happen to her son,” he said.
A detail on the painting of “Mother of the Great Steppe” by Dosbol Kasymov. Alexey Gotovsky/CNA
The Christ Child, who is looking the other way from his mother, “has a mixture of feelings,” the artist noted. “It is as if on the one hand, he does not want to separate from his mother, but on the other hand … somewhere in his depths, in his young subconsciousness, there is also an understanding that he has a path, as each of us has our own path.”
The Koran, a manual of war and deception. Yet, Islam has the effrontery to call itself the “Religion of Peace”!
True peace is found through Jesus Christ. Islam has never been peaceful nor can it be.
Hebrews 12:14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Romans 14:19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
To a Muslim, an invitation is extended to learn of jesus Christ and His free gift of salvation! Islam is fear and disappointment, Jesus Christ is reconciliation with God and the promise of eternal life. Let’s examine, for God loves you! How many times do we find “love” in the Koran?
The Koran, a manual of war and deception. Yet, Islam has the effrontery to call itself the “Religion of Peace”!
True peace is found through Jesus Christ. Islam has never been peaceful nor can it be.
Hebrews 12:14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Romans 14:19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
To a Muslim, an invitation is extended to learn of jesus Christ and His free gift of salvation! Islam is fear and disappointment, Jesus Christ is reconciliation with God and the promise of eternal life. Let’s examine, for God loves you! How many times do we find “love” in the Koran?