10 Stories of Support in a Year of Obstacles Facing challenges wrought by the pandemic, The Fund’s beneficiaries brought help to people and communities. Image Sheeba Shafaq faced threats for her work teaching reproductive health in Afghanistan. Now she leads a Covid-19 testing site in California.Credit...Max Whittaker for The New York Times Sheeba Shafaq International Rescue Committee Sheeba Shafaq grew up in Afghanistan watching her grandmother work as a midwife and her father help patients as a plastic surgeon and emergency medical technician. For her, treating people was the ultimate goal. But when Ms. Shafaq traveled outside Kabul to teach women about reproductive health, she faced threats and was unable to complete her residency to become a gynecologist and obstetrician.