Back in the spring of 2020, we wrote about the impressive all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan who was building ventilators from used car parts to treat Covid-19 patients. Now that the Taliban has seized power in Afghanistan, many people, including this team of impressive teenage girls, face an uncertain future at home.

Fortunately, five members of the robotics team, along with over a hundred media workers, arrived safely in Mexico on Tuesday. Their safe transport was due to an “extensive international effort and coordination from a group of volunteers,” says one volunteer who prefers to remain anonymous to protect themselves and the families that remain under Taliban control. Other members of the robotics team recently touched down in Qatar.

“We give you the warmest welcome to Mexico,” Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Martha Delgado said as she welcomed the robotics team members at a news conference at Mexico City’s international airport. Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard announced on August 18 that Mexico was processing refugee applications of Afghan citizens and has pledged to especially aid Afghan women and girls with the help of Guillermo Puente Ordorica, Ambassador of Mexico in Iran.

Around 124 more journalists and staff of Afghan and foreign media outlets arrived in Mexico a few hours after the robotics team. According to Ebrard, the decision to offer refuge is in line with a long Mexican tradition of welcoming people who are fleeing persecution.

“In this case, it’s people who are risking their lives to inform, to communicate. People committed to the freedom of expression.”

Source Image: Reuters