Razia Jan

Razia Jan
Jan in 2012
Born(1944-06-05)5 June 1944
Quetta, Baluchistan, British India (present-day Balochistan, Pakistan)
Died20 July 2025(2025-07-20) (aged 81)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupations
  • Business owner
  • activist
  • humanitarian
Children1[1]

Razia Jan (5 June 1944 – 20 July 2025) was an Afghan-American business owner and activist who was the founder of Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation, a nonprofit education organization in Afghanistan.[2]

Biography

Jan was born in Quetta on 5 June 1944, and moved to the United States in 1970 to go to college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She previously attained bachelor's and master's degrees from the Government College for Women in Quetta.[1][3] The proprietor of a small tailoring business in Duxbury, Massachusetts, she served as president of the town's Rotary Club.[4][5]

After the September 11 attacks, Jan rallied her New England community to send over 400 homemade blankets to rescue workers who were at Ground Zero of the attacks.[6] Her efforts expanded to include sending care packages to US troops in Afghanistan. Through her involvement in the military's Operation Shoe Fly, she coordinated the delivery of over 30,000 pairs of shoes to needy Afghan children.[6]

In 2008, she opened a free all girls' school in Afghanistan, the Zabuli Education Center,[7][8][9] starting with 109 students.[3] The school is mostly funded by private donors.[3] In 2021 that had grown to 800 students,[10] but then was forced to shut under the new Taliban regime following the 2021 Taliban offensive. The school was allowed to re-open for primary school students, but was forced to stop educating secondary students.[11][12]

In 2017, she opened the Razia Jan Institute for Medical Sciences, which was a free two-year midwifery certification college. The first students graduated in 2019. The college was shut indefinitely in 2021 due to new restrictions on women's education. A new teacher certification program was due to start in 2021,[12] but was never launched due to legal restrictions.[13] Jan died from heart failure in Los Angeles, on 20 July 2025, at the age of 81.[1]

Jan is the subject of a children's picture book biography, Razia's Ray of Hope: One Girl's Dream of an Education, written by Elizabeth Suneby and illustrated by Suana Verelst, published by Kids Can Press in 2013.[14][15][16][17] The book came to the attention of Roya Hosseini and was then used as part of curriculum of the Khaled Hosseini Foundation.[18] Razia's Ray of Hope was a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor Title in 2014.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c Green, Penelope (4 August 2025). "Razia Jan, 81, Who Built an Enduring Girls' School in Afghanistan, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
  2. ^ "About the Foundation". Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation. Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Murphy, Beth (29 October 2016). "Pashtana's Lesson". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "The Duxbury Rotary Club has been serving our community since 1950". Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  5. ^ "Razia Jan fights to educate girls in rural Afghanistan". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  6. ^ a b Behring, Elizabeth. "Afghan girls' school founder visits Heidelberg". United States Army. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  7. ^ Torgan, Allie (2 August 2012). "Acid attacks, poison: What Afghan girls risk by going to school". CNN. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  8. ^ "'A ray of hope' where girls didn't count". CNN. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  9. ^ Torgan, Allie (26 September 2012). "Despite deadly risks, Afghan girls take brave first step". CNN. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  10. ^ CNN Heroes 15th Anniversary: Razia Jan. CNN. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  11. ^ "'We Have to Do the Best We Can': Uncertainty and Hope for One Girls' School Under New Taliban Regime". People. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  12. ^ a b Navarre, Brianna (7 April 2022). "A Woman's Fight to Educate Girls in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan". US News and World Report.
  13. ^ "OUR PROGRAMS | RAZIA'S RAY OF HOPE FOUNDATION". Razia's Ray of Hope. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  14. ^ Razia's Ray of Hope. Kirkus Reviews.
  15. ^ Razia's Ray of Hope: One Girl's Dream of an Education, by Elizabeth Suneby | Booklist Online.
  16. ^ "Refugees welcome here: resources and booklist". The Horn Book. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  17. ^ "Razia's Ray of Hope". School Library Journal.
  18. ^ "News from the North: March 2014". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  19. ^ "Elizabeth Suneby: A Window into a Girls' School in Afghanistan". Jane Addams Peace Association. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
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