San Rafael Humanitarian Nonprofit Roots of Peace celebrated the safe reunion of its Director of Technology and his family at SFO last Tuesday (Jan. 18), after their evacuation from Afghanistan. The successful arrival of the Safi family comes amid five months of tense diplomatic negotiation, during which Roots of Peace has attempted to extract 76 employees and their families who were at grave risk amid the evacuation of Afghanistan last August.
Roots of Peace founder and CEO Heidi Kühn joined Mr. Siawash Safi to meet his family at SFO. The Siawash family was among 76 Roots of Peace employees/families who attempted and failed evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport via bus in late August 2021 amid chaos at the airport. They have been in perilous limbo ever since. In many cases, including that of the Siawash family, evacuation efforts have led to families being separated.
“The past five months have been very tense for our Afghan staff in California, as many family members have been left behind. We greet them at our offices each morning with hallowed faces— separated from their loved ones,” Kühn said. “As CEO, each morning the faces of those Afghan families left behind haunt me. I will not give up until each one is safely evacuated.”
Roots of Peace continues to work to secure safe passage for 50 at risk Afghan employees and their families. Currently, one Afghan businesswoman of Hazara ethnicity is desperately trying to evacuate before giving birth to her first child. She employed over 80 Afghan women, and her life is now gravely in danger.
Roots of Peace in a press release said it remains grateful to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Jared Huffman, and the U.S. State Department for their tremendous leadership and ongoing support during this evacuation effort.
Mr. Safi had been among a small group of Roots of Peace employees removed from Afghanistan in fall 2021, working from Roots of Peace’s San Rafael offices while separated from his family. For the last five months, the Safi family (wife Laila; son Adeed, age 9; daughter Neda, age 5; father Abdul Hadi; and mother Jamila- all pictured) have been awaiting immigration processing at Fort Dix, New Jersey, alongside 10,000 Afghan refugees.
For over twenty years, Roots of Peace has worked to turn “mines to vines” in Afghanistan, helping to replace 100,000 land mines 6 million fruit trees across the country’s war torn lands. Roots of Peace currently employs over 300 Afghans and manages $75 million in USG and UNDP contracts—cultivating peace through agriculture. Afghanistan is a country 80% dependent upon agriculture for jobs, and our humanitarian efforts are feeding a nation that is now starving during the harsh winter months relying upon WFP for food. Amidst the many challenges, we remain deeply committed to our work to plant the Roots of Peace in Afghanistan. “We serve no flag,” Kühn said. “We serve the farmer.”
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