THE CRISIS WE FACE. A LETTER FROM FARAH NOOR CHEEMA, PRESIDENT OF FORA
Pictured: Simran Arora, Parent/School Partnership Program Coordinator; Kathleen O'Connor, Ph.D., Educational Programs Director; Farah Noor Cheema, M.D., President; Lauren Kearns, Chief of Staff
Dear FORA Family, The past two years have been challenging, with most of us isolated in our homes. But we survived. We rediscovered unused exercise bikes, tuned into the most recent Netflix shows, and, after much struggle, mastered Zoom. And with 2021 soon ending, we look forward to turning the page on the pandemic and to beginning life anew, committed to resolutions to live joyously expansive lives.
I have learned how fragile we humans are and how we all live closer than formerly thought to societal collapse. And, of course, some of us live in societies that have actually – without exaggeration – collapsed; I can only imagine how women and girls now feel in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. While I was secure in my house, hibernating with my electronic gadgets, so many people were losing jobs, without health insurance, hungry, and dying. Others were literally losing their countries. This reality focuses my attention on the most vulnerable – those without either a home or a country – our brothers and sisters who are refugees, fleeing for their lives to seek shelter in squalid, disease-filled camps.
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