Arezo

by Melina Roise

As a part of COMMON GROUND’s commitment to educating, discussing, and impacting food politics, we are uplifting a series of grassroots organizations already making an incredible impact in and around our community. 

Arezo (“Wish”) is a Trustee Leader Scholar (TLS) program at Bard College begun two years ago by now incoming senior Sonita Alizada. TLS programs at Bard support student-run initiatives that are often local or nationwide. A few, like Arezo, work internationally.

Sonita Alizada, the founder of Arezo, grew up as an undocumented refugee in Tehran, Iran. At the ages of ten and sixteen, her family attempted to sell her into child marriage. The first time, the contract fell through, and the second, she escaped, today working in a variety of arts and activist mediums to end child marriage and support her communities in Afghanistan. 

Arezo began as an attempt to help children through experiences that Sonita had herself. The program pairs financial sponsors with children in three provinces of Afghanistan, where volunteers distribute food (and occasionally other necessary items like clothing, shoes and sometimes toys as well). In exchange for these goods, families agree that they will not put their children to work again. 

The work of Arezo is especially pertinent in the ongoing political situation of Afghanistan in which many mothers who are single are unable to work, creating a situation in which sending their children to work long hours in often grueling jobs is one of the only feasible solutions for their family’s survival. To add to this urgency, the United Nations Resident Coordinator shares their estimates of 95% of Afghan households are food insecure, with an estimated 100% of female-led households struggling to access enough food.

With a team of volunteers on the ground in Afghanistan and at Bard, Arezo currently sponsors 25 children in three different provinces of Afghanistan.

Sonita noted that their main current challenge is fundraising. “The main audience we have here are college students,” she notes, emphasizing Arezo’s goal of reaching a wider community in order to gain more financial support.

“My wish is to see a world where children can be children, can play and not be forced to exchange their childhood with a piece of bread.”-Sonita Alizada

To support the work of Arezo, donate here and comment “Arezo.”