Afghani Evacuee and Woman’s Advocate Discusses ‘Afghanistan: Culture, Women, Realities of War, and Relocation to the U.S.'

Thursday, November 14th, 2024 -- 12:00 PM

Students and individuals who attended The Highground’s Education Days at the beginning of October had the opportunity to hear “Afghanistan – Culture, Women in Afghanistan, Realities of War and Relocation to the U.S.”

The presentation was given by Afghani Evacuee, Women’s Advocate and Prominent Afghani Fashion Designer Sarwat Najib. Sarwat and her family relocated to the Stevens Point area after the fall of Afghanistan and the takeover of the Taliban.

In Afghanistan, Sarwat founded Shamla Atelier and was head designer during the Afghan presidential campaign for Ashraf Ghani. She’s helped lead many non-profit organizations and written hundreds of political, cultural, and historical short stories, columns, articles, and poems.

Sarwat and her husband founded Focus Development Organization to provide assistance and education to the people of Afghanistan, and she continues that work in Stevens Point.

She leads EmpowerHer Sewing Workshops at CREATE’s IDEA Center, held an arts residency with the UWSP Theatre and Dance, and co-lead a fashion and photography exhibit to empower women, promote culture and enhance the beauty of Wisconsin.

As the President and Founder of Shamla LLC, her ongoing mission is to harness global artistic diversity and celebrate beauty through cross-cultural fashion. I had the pleasure of speaking with Sarwat and she discussed some of her experiences in more detail.

Listen to my interview with Sarwat here!

If you’d like to learn more about Sarwat and the organization she’s involved with, her design career, and more, you can find her on social media like Facebook and Instagram.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.