8976

Asma Faizi

CAN
For over twenty years Asma Faizi has been a staunch advocate at the national and international level on issues related to the plight of Afghan women, challenges faced by newcomers to Canada and on human rights issues for refugees worldwide. Asma became a Board member of the Afghan Women’s Organization (AWO) in 1998 and has been the President and Chair of its Board of Directors since 2008. The AWO has been providing settlement services for over 30 years to newcomers to Canada with a special focus on women, their families, refugees and people who have experienced war and persecution. The AWO has also had a number of home-based/underground schools and educational, capacity building and income generation projects in Afghanistan and in the refugee camps in Pakistan. The AWO also established an orphanage in 2004 in Kabul. In 1986, Asma escaped the war in Afghanistan at age three with her mom and 4-year-old brother. The perilous escape included time spent in a refugee camp in Pakistan. Asma is a lawyer and lives in Toronto with her husband and three children.