Broadcast Journalists
Nikbakht Dadfar and Fatema Watandost are two broadcast journalists from Afghanistan, exiled by the Taliban, and resettled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are only two of the over 76,000 Afghans evacuated by the US and scattered around the country since August 2021. About 600 Afghans were resettled in Milwaukee, and they both feel that it is one of the most segregated cities in America. “People who have lived here for generations do not know what is happening in a different neighborhood—how can they know us? How can we know them?” Their project is to tell stories that bridge communities. They would like for Americans to know who their new Afghan neighbors are, and they would like for Afghans to understand the culture and community that they’ve just joined. “If we don’t tell stories that help us understand each other, how can we have peace between us?” With their shared experience as multimedia journalists, the two plan to produce stories which bring these communities together. They are already in conversation with their local media, including Milwaukee PBS. They have so much to tell and so much to learn and they are excited to get started with The Peace Studio.