Reactions, please.
Feb. 20th, 2002 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaLast night my sister told me a story. I'm going to recount as much of the story as I can, just as it was told to me, and I'd very much appreciate your thoughts.
My sister's friend participates in a newsgroup devoted to a TV show. On that newsgroup, some time ago (more than six months), she began corresponding with a 13-year-old Afghan girl who was in the U.S. to attend school. The girl's guardian was her grandfather, who had very progressive ideas about educating women. Because of that, and because the girl is a math prodigy (although she writes in very broken English), he arranged for her to attend school in New York.
On September 11th, her grandfather had a heart attack and died when he saw the WTC disaster covered on TV. Her U.S. hosts were both in the World Trade Center at the time, and died in the attack. Back in Afghanistan, the rest of her close family was killed when Taliban forces burned their house down. She has therefore come under the custody of distant relatives.
These relatives do not believe in educating girls, and have forced her to leave school. They have arranged her marriage to a 60-year-old man in Afghanistan, against her will. She is still in the U.S., but they moved her a couple of times in a private plane, and she has no idea where she is. She is not permitted to leave the house or contact anyone. She is only able to contact my sister's friend because she has a handheld computer which her guardians don't realize is equipped with e-mail access. She is becoming progressively more despairing, and my sister's friend is becoming progressively more frightened for her.
My sister's friend called the FBI, and was told that without any information about the girl's location there isn't much they can do.
What do you think?
My sister's friend participates in a newsgroup devoted to a TV show. On that newsgroup, some time ago (more than six months), she began corresponding with a 13-year-old Afghan girl who was in the U.S. to attend school. The girl's guardian was her grandfather, who had very progressive ideas about educating women. Because of that, and because the girl is a math prodigy (although she writes in very broken English), he arranged for her to attend school in New York.
On September 11th, her grandfather had a heart attack and died when he saw the WTC disaster covered on TV. Her U.S. hosts were both in the World Trade Center at the time, and died in the attack. Back in Afghanistan, the rest of her close family was killed when Taliban forces burned their house down. She has therefore come under the custody of distant relatives.
These relatives do not believe in educating girls, and have forced her to leave school. They have arranged her marriage to a 60-year-old man in Afghanistan, against her will. She is still in the U.S., but they moved her a couple of times in a private plane, and she has no idea where she is. She is not permitted to leave the house or contact anyone. She is only able to contact my sister's friend because she has a handheld computer which her guardians don't realize is equipped with e-mail access. She is becoming progressively more despairing, and my sister's friend is becoming progressively more frightened for her.
My sister's friend called the FBI, and was told that without any information about the girl's location there isn't much they can do.
What do you think?
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no subject
Date: 2002-02-20 08:12 am (UTC)As far as what Rivka's sister's friend or the newsgroup can do...
1) Is it possible to verify the name of the girl's U.S. hosts as being actual WTC victims?
2) Is it possible to verify the girl as having attended a U.S. school?
3) Is it possible to verify the girl's distant relatives names, to see if their private plane is actually registered in the U.S.? If it is, then it should be possible to see if there's been a flight plan filed for that plane.
no subject
Date: 2002-02-20 08:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-02-20 08:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-02-20 09:20 am (UTC)Well, we'll all go together when we go - because my first reaction was also "I really don't think this could be true." The number of different tragic elements strained credibility. But on the other hand, enough really awful things do happen that I don't want to dismiss a story offhandedly just because it sounds "too bad to be true."
Two of the things that trip my bullshit detector:
Two people who are hosting an Afghan girl fleeing Taliban oppression both die in the WTC, and yet in the vast reams of coverage the U.S. media doesn't pick up on this incredibly mediagenic story? She supposedly wasn't cut off from contact until well after September 11, so someone - herself, her school, her friends - would have been in a position to share her circumstances with the press.
A group of Afghans were able to transport an unwilling, English-speaking victim around the U.S. without attracting the notice of the authorities, despite the heightened attention given to private aviation since September 11th? (My sister thinks that private planes just file a flight plan, and that no one looks at the passengers at all. But that seems unlikely these days, doesn't it?)
However, in support of the possibility of all this being real: my sister says that her friend was initially contacted by the girl's family (pre-September 11th) to verify that she was an acceptable, reputable person with whom it would be okay for the girl to correspond. (I don't know how this contact was made. If it was by e-mail, obviously it isn't worth much.)
I'm going to forward all of this to my sister, so continued comments are helpful if anyone else wants to add anything. I'd especially be interested in hearing from anyone who isn't going to Cynic Hell with Serene, Trinker, Jae, and me.