When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, Ahmed and his younger brother Mahmoud had no choice but to run. They left their home with all their possessions, found a hiding spot in a tiny room with no toilet or bathroom and stayed there terrified for weeks while their government collapsed and their country changed completely.

Ahmed is gay, in a country where being LGBTQ is punishable by death from the Taliban  – who have avowed to continue this horrific practice. He received death threats and was actively being hunted.

Both brothers are also Hazara, an ethnic minority much persecuted in Central Asia. The brothers’ own father was killed in a massacre of Hazara males when they were small children. They converted to Christianity but being ex-Muslim and Christian puts them in danger from religious fundamentalists, who see renouncing their religion as blasphemy.

Thankfully, they have escaped to Pakistan but they are constantly under threat of being forcibly returned to Afghanistan like many refugees before them. 

We’re helping them apply for safety in the US but there’s a long way to go. If you’d like to sign their petition, click here! 

We are raising funds to help support the brothers while they await the outcome of their asylum claim. Both are talented and hardworking, with a huge variety of experience. We want to support them until they are able to reach safety and become part of and contribute to the community. Ahmed wants to become an LGBTQ advocate, helping people in his situation and Mahmoud wants to complete his studies at university.

Can you help these brothers? We need funds to help maintain them while they receive their asylum claim, and also to find their feet when they arrive in the US. Every little counts!

Please share with your friends and thank you!

Please note that this event has been cancelled. The Seattle Men’s Chorus hopes to reschedule the event in the future and we will keep you posted. You can still donate to our New Life Fund to continue to aid the LGBTQ refugees. Thank you for your support during these difficult times.

On March 20 and 21, the Seattle Men’s Chorus will be performing at Benaroya Hall with a program that is intended to spotlight Seattle as an epicenter of an “underground railway” to bring LGBTQ people from areas where they face persecution and threat of death for being LGBTQ. Members of the Chorus have made it their life’s mission to conduct this pathway to safety.

SCM Medical Missions is joining with the Seattle Men’s Chorus to help provide a safe route to refugees, who find themselves in camps or other countries where they are persecuted, attacked and threatened, to obtain asylum in Canada through Rainbow Refugee. You can read more about the Seattle Men’s Chorus and their program, and we hope you will consider attending the concert. SCM will have a table in the lobby providing more information about SCM and our efforts to help protect the most vulnerable refugee populations such as LGBTQ people. You can also donate to our NEW LIFE FUND to help these refugees find safety.

SCM is supporting LGBTQI refugees to help them get to safety in Canada. They are extremely vulnerable and are often persecuted within the camps. They need help to get out of the camps and on their way to a new and safe life in Canada, but they lack the resources to do so. As part of our mission to help the most vulnerable refugees, we are starting a new fund to help cover living expenses outside the camps and other fees associated with their asylum and immigration cases. We have people on the ground who are bringing specific cases of people in danger to us that we will assist on a case by case basis and we are partnering with an organization in Canada to accomplish this.

Please help us help them get out of the camps to safety and a new life in Canada.

‘What if they don’t let me back in’: Seattle-area families still worried after Trump travel-ban suspended

To continue to full article, click the photo or on this link.

SCM is taking donations for Aleppo, and you can support the people there in the following ways:

Shelter Kit   $50

Winter Kit  $43.50

Food Kit  $33

Hygiene Kits   $40

We are partnering with an organization based in Lebanon that is purchasing the supplies and taking them into Syria and getting them to the people in Aleppo.

From Rita Zawaideh:

“The people in Aleppo are asking for the help of the international community – we have been too quiet for so long and now it is all closing in on the women and children and the elderly.  We are working with groups inside and no for sure that the funds will get to where they are intended.

Please help us – I know a lot of us feel powerless at this time and anything we can do will be a savior.  No person should have to go thru this.  We have said time and time again that we can’t let this happen and we are.  The world governments are silent as these horrors continue under our very noses.

I have been crying for days and days and wondering how to get ahold of friends and family that are still living in Aleppo.  I just want to get on a plane or rent the whole plane and take people out and not make them try and walk out thru these supposed free corridors- that is not the case.  My daughter’s friend’s house got bombed- they are ok but how many others are not and how many others do we not hear from ever again.”