At 29 years old, Sheeba Shafaq joined forces on the frontlines in Sacramento, California, to fight the pandemic. Ms. Shafaq grew up in a war zone in Kabul, Afghanistan. There, trained as a medical doctor, She was also an advocate for Afghan women. As a female doctor in a country where gender segregation remains a serious challenge to women, her life was threatened by the Taliban, which eventually forced her to flee her country and medical career. In 2019, Ms. Shafaq was granted political asylum.

In the United States, Ms. Shafaq is working towards getting licensed to practice medicine, which is a costly and long process especially without support from her family, who Ms. Shafaq has not seen for the past 5 years. In March 2020, Ms. Shafaq re-joined the medical field by being part of a mobile COVID-19 testing team in California. As part of the “portraits of resilience” series, Ms. Shafaq told the story of her life and how living in a war zone prepared her for dealing with the pandemic on the frontline.

To learn more about Ms. Shafaq, visit:

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/19/925317879/3-women-health-care-heroes-from-icelands-top-doc-to-a-village-protector-in-india

Also, Ms. Shafaq story is part of the “Portraits of Resilience” by the National Public Radio (United States): https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/10/09/918815890/portraits-of-resilience-how-19-women-around-the-globe-face-the-pandemic