Somaya Faruqi

Somaya Faruqi (also spelled Farooqi) (born 2002) is an Afghan student and engineer, and the captain of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team, also known as the "Afghan Dreamers." She was named to the BBC 100 Women in 2020 and was featured by UNICEF in 2020 as well as the UN Women Generation Equality campaign in 2021. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, her team designed a prototype ventilator to help fight the coronavirus in Afghanistan.

Early life and education Faruqi was born in 2002 that traveled to the United States to participate in the international FIRST Global Challenge robotics competition. In 2018, the team trained in Canada, continued to travel in the United States for months and participate in competitions. Faruqi became the captain of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team. The team met on a daily basis after school. and the Afghan Girls Robotics Team was one of six teams contacted by the government. UNICEF also supported the team with the acquisition of necessary parts during the three months they spent building the prototype that was completed in July 2020.

In December 2020, Minister of Industry and Commerce Nizar Ahmad Ghoryani donated funding and obtained land for a factory to produce the ventilators. On August 17, 2021, the Afghan Girls Robotics Team and their coaches were reported to be attempting to evacuate, but unable to obtain a flight out of Afghanistan, and it was reported that they asked Canada for assistance. As of August 19, 2021, it was reported that some members of the team and their coaches had evacuated to Qatar. By August 25, 2021, some members arrived in Mexico. On August 26, 2021, Faruqi was quoted by Reuters as stating, "We left Afghanistan for our education and one day we will come back and we will serve our people and our country."

Honors and awards 2017 Silver medal for Courageous Achievement at the FIRST Global Challenge, science and technology TEEN. GIRL. ACTIVIST. (UNICEF, October 9, 2020) 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Inspiring girls to know: Four stories to celebrate girls in ICT (UN Women, April 21, 2021)