Roya Shams: KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN

Perilous Mission Dept: Star editor Michael Cooke and I were close to completing a sometimes perilous mission to get Roya Shams, 17, out of Afghanistan and to Canada so she could continue her education free from war and oppression, according to The Star. The Afghan police at Kandahar airport had other ideas and kANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN We were two foreign men travelling with an Afghan schoolgirl, trying to ignore the death stares from other passengers in Kandahar airport, when two policemen swaggered up and sat down. For five months, a small but growing community of people who shared Roya s dream has joined the Star s effort to get Roya to Ottawa, where she will attend Ashbury College, a prestigious private school, with students from more than 30 countries. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.