“There is a lot of change from the beginning up to now, and we are still learning every day.”

The experience of resettling in Brattleboro has changed not only the Afghan women who had to rebuild their lives, but also the people and the town that helped them do it. There are many challenges—a housing shortage, the loss of federal funding that supports refugee programs, pockets of resentment among local residents. But in the words of one longtime Brattleboro citizen, the town has learned a lot “about resiliency, support, and what really matters.”

The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

“My daughters will be raised in America, so their lives will be different from mine.”

Some Afghan women in Brattleboro left their country because their husbands had jobs connected to the Afghan military or to the U.S. government evacuation in 2021, which put them in danger. Coming from traditional families, these women focus on the same things in Brattleboro as they did at home: raising their children, practicing their faith, and preserving their culture. But they’re also doing new things, like learning how to drive.

The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

“Many of us who are here in Brattleboro ... we had a good life in Afghanistan.”

Afghan women in their 40s and 50s grew up surrounded by war. They went to school off and on, depending on how much violence was happening in their neighborhoods. They raised children. Many built careers. But those careers put them in danger when the Taliban returned in 2021. Today these women face the double burden of supporting themselves and their families in Brattleboro and also their families back home.

The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

“I grew up with all these stories, all this history. How can I accept in one night, everything is changed?”

Many young women who came of age during Afghanistan’s 20 years of democracy went to high school and university and were charting their futures when the Taliban took power. Their lives were in danger so they fled. In Afghanistan, they had been academic powerhouses, artists, educators, rising business managers. In Brattleboro, they started over.

The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

“Is any place in the United States of America called Vermont?”

As Afghan women left their country and embarked on a journey halfway around the world, they mourned their losses: family, homes, careers, comfort. They mourned their loss of Afghanistan. They landed in Vermont, a place they’d never heard of before. A brand new resettlement agency and a cadre of volunteers were waiting for them.

The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

“The day the Taliban took control of our country, how much we cried no one can imagine.”

When the fundamentalist Taliban seized power in 2021, Afghan citizens were shocked and terrified. They fled the country for different reasons: their education, jobs, or activism put them in danger; they were connected to the Afghan military or a western government; or all of the above. The U.S. evacuated close to 80,000 Afghans. Some were destined for Brattleboro, Vermont.

The Afghan Women of Brattleboro was produced by Two Daughters Productions with support from Vermont Public's Made Here Fund.

Dr. Bob Primeau is the only primary care doctor for miles. He has spent his entire career taking care of patients from the day they’re born until the day they die. But his field is changing, and Primeau is nearing retirement age.

"At the end of the summer, I'm leaving the primary care practice," Primeau says. "I'll have more time to devote to our local trail network, to play music, maybe even do some work overseas or teach at the high school. None of that will be as important as the 34 years I spent as the doctor in Island Pond."

This story is a collaborative documentary, told from the point of view of its main subject, in his own words. The narration is the result of many hours of conversation and work between Dr. Primeau and producer Anna Van Dine, written based on transcripts and emails.

Homeless Vermonters face many deadly risks. But the state doesn't track how many have died, or what kills them. A first-of-its kind analysis by Vermont Public and Seven Days identified at least 82 people who died either living outside or sheltered in motels between 2021 and 2024.

A downtown apartment building stitched Plainfield together. On July 10, floods washed it away.

The Heartbreak Hotel was the kind of place where neighbors saw each other every day, where generations of people, from all walks of life, found belonging and someone to wave to in the morning.

Twelve people were living there at the time, and they all survived. Most of their beloved cats did not.

In the days after the flood, reporter Erica Heilman talked with a number of the residents who lost their homes. They sat on porches and in houses where they were camped out, and in Erica’s car. What was lost that night, and what could it teach us about what comes next?

"Uncomfortable conversations need to happen."

Raneen Salha and Sarah White discuss their thoughts, feelings and personal connections to the war between Israel and Hamas.