<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">Courtesy of the <i>New York Post</i> at:<div><br></div><div><a href="https://nypost.com/2021/08/19/oklahoma-mom-rescues-members-of-afghan-all-girls-robotics-team/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark">https://nypost.com/2021/08/19/oklahoma-mom-rescues-members-of-afghan-all-girls-robotics-team/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark</a></div><div><br></div><div>————————————————-</div><div><br></div><div><h1 class="headline headline--single" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: neue-haas-grotesk-display, sans-serif; line-height: 1.05; font-size: 2.625rem; letter-spacing: -0.01em;">Oklahoma mom of 11 rescues members of Afghan all-girls robotics team</h1></div><div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">An Oklahoma mother of 11 flew to the Mideast earlier this month to help rescue 10 members of the country’s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2021/08/16/afghanistans-all-girls-robotics-team-reportedly-desperate-to-flee-country/" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: rgb(198, 8, 0); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">all-girls robotics team</span></a>, and is hoping to save more as the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://nypost.com/article/who-are-the-taliban-and-what-are-they-planning/" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: rgb(198, 8, 0); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">Taliban takes power</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in Kabul.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Allyson Reneau, a 60-year old Harvard graduate with a Masters degree in international relations and US space policy, took it upon herself to try and save members of the Afghan Girls Robotic Team,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/oklahoma-mom-11-helps-rescue-10-girls-afghanistan-s-robotics-n1277153" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: rgb(198, 8, 0); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">according to NBC</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">She flew into Qatar on Aug. 9 after making a “Hail Mary” call to a former roommate at the US Embassy there to help get the girls from the advancing Taliban, known for their<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2021/08/17/malala-yousafzai-fears-for-future-of-afghan-girls-and-women/" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: rgb(198, 8, 0); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">oppressive treatment of women</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Reneau had been in contact with the team — made of girls ages 16 to 18 — since 2019 when she worked on the board of directors for Explore Mars and met the girls when they attended the organization’s annual Humans to Mars conference.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">The team was hailed in Western media as the future of the war-ravaged country, as well as a shining example of how women’s rights had improved after the US invaded following 9/11.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">She said she “couldn’t shake” the feeling that the girls were in danger while watching the news of the advancing insurgent army in early August. The first step she took was to call Sen. Jim Inhofe [R-Okla.], a ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, but that “lead went cold” when the senator became “overwhelmed with the need to help our American citizens,” Reneau told NBC.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Then, she decided to try herself, hopping on a flight towards the Middle East, but still thousands of miles away from Afghanistan. Her friend in Qatar was thankfully able to help her once she arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">“I remembered my former roommate in D.C. a couple of years ago was transferred to Qatar,” Reneau told NBC. “She said she worked in the U.S. Embassy in Qatar. … She was sure her boss would approve helping the girls.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">“She wrote up a request, and I got all of their passports together,” Reneau said. “She went back to the Embassy at midnight and worked all night to prepare the documents [and] packets for the girls.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Reneau said it was chaotic trying to get the girls out, who “were in a sea of chaos with 8 million people and a city halfway around the world,” forcing her to work at the embassy all night.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">“It’s very narrow window of opportunity,” she told NBC. “I knew that if I didn’t run through that door now — it’s now or never. Sometimes you only get one chance.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">After one flight was canceled, 10 girls boarded the next flight from the American side of the Kabul airport, which<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2021/08/19/afghan-child-hoisted-over-over-wall-amid-kabul-airport-chaos/" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: rgb(198, 8, 0); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">has been a scene of violence and turmoil</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>as residents attempt to flee the Taliban regime.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">The girls were taken to a secure location in the U.S. and will pursue higher education, Reneau said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">According to NBC, Reneau is still working to get 25 more girls from the team to safety.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">“All the emotion, two weeks of work for them, it hit me all at once,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Human rights groups had demanded earlier this week that Canada take in the girls robotics team, as the Taliban goes “door to door and literally taking girls out and forcing them to become child brides.” The team competed there in 2018.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 1.25rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(42, 42, 42); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">“[The girls] are worried about what tomorrow brings. They want to continue to be educated. They want to continue to be the future of Afghanistan, but it’s an extremely tenuous and dangerous situation for them,” human rights lawyer Kimberley Motley<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1933314627839" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: rgb(198, 8, 0); border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;">told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a>on Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br></div><div>——————-</div><div><br></div><div>Photo .. .</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/NYPost_082021.jpg">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/NYPost_082021.jpg</a></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(88, 88, 88); letter-spacing: -0.1pt; background-color: white;">Allyson Reneau (center) flew into Qatar on her way to the US Embassy in her bid to ensure Afghanistan’s all-girls robotics team was evacuated.</span></p></div><div><br></div><div>————————————————-<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://www.MoscowCares.net</span></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></div></body></html>