Posts by apearson
Servant: Caring for the Immigrant and Refugee
This discipleship video from one of our church partners, The Summit Church, discusses the Biblical command to “welcome the stranger” and offers some practical steps believers can take to follow God’s call, including giving, volunteering, and advocating alongside World Relief Durham.
“God commands his people to care for strangers and foreigners, along with the poor, the widows, and orphans. It’s important to recognize that these passages are not simply proof-texts free of context. Rather, compassionate and just treatment of foreigners is a core ethical principle, rooted in God’s covenant with his people. Just one representative example is Leviticus 19:34, ‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.’ As God cared for his people when they were oppressed strangers in Egypt, his people were to demonstrate his faithfulness and compassion by welcoming strangers into their community and treating them justly.”
“Servant – Caring for the Immigrant & Refugee” – The Summit Church (00:49-01:43)
Surge of Afghan refugees is exposing housing issues in N.C.
By Alexis Bell, Spectrum News //
RALEIGH, N.C. — A recent surge of Afghan refugees coming to North Carolina has made it difficult to find housing for all the families, leaving some to stay in hotels.
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) North Carolina is helping some of the refugees coming to our state. Omer, the director of the Raleigh office, says they have seen 125 refugees since September. Fifty have come in the past week.
USCRI, Lutheran Services Carolinas and World Relief Durham are all helping people from Afghanistan in Raleigh and surrounding areas.
Welcome House Community Network — a supporting nonprofit of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Congregations — is stepping in to fill temporary housing needs. There are welcome houses in Triangle North, Raleigh, Henderson and Fayetteville. … [READ MORE]
Mercy over Judgment
By K.J. Hill and Reema Nasrallah //
The tragic fall of Afghanistan’s government has led the international community to rally to assist evacuees fleeing the Taliban. More than 1,000 of these Afghan evacuees are slated for resettlement in North Carolina in the coming months.
As a pastor, I have been getting lots of questions about this crisis. Many of the questions are rooted in compassion with a sincere desire to help, like “How can we help people arriving overcome culture shock?” or “How can we meet basic needs like housing, clothing and food?” Other questions reveal cynicism, angst, and fear, such as “How do we know people coming here can be trusted?” or “How do we know they are who they claim to be?” These questions — which are also asked about asylum-seekers at our southern border — aren’t new, but are actually the same questions that the early church was asking.
In fourth-century Antioch, Archbishop John Chrysostom objected to the congregations who were complaining about poor foreigners (including refugees and economic migrants) arriving in their city: “But to what extent do [the poor] seek to deceive you? They are fugitives, they say, strangers, worthless creatures, who have left their native land and are gathering in our city. Do you resent this, tell me, and do you pluck the crown of honor from your city, because all men consider it a common refuge, and prefer it to their own land? Nay, rather, for this reason you ought to exult and rejoice, that to you, as if to some common market, they all run, and consider this city their common mother.” Read more at Baptist Press.
Update on Afghan Resettlement
This week, World Relief Durham’s Resettlement Manager, Rebecca Evens, shared about the ongoing resettlement process for Afghan evacuees arriving in the Triangle as humanitarian parolees. At this point, the office has resettled about half of the humanitarian parolees expected, with the remainder of these arrivals anticipated by mid-January. “We did increase our initial capacity by almost doubling it, so we are receiving more than we initially planned to. It’s also highly likely that we will eventually increase our capacity again because there are still Afghans who haven’t even made it to the US yet,” Rebecca explained. Currently, around 75,000 Afghan allies have been evacuated to the United States, with close to another 25,000 still waiting outside the country. “At the same time,” Rebecca noted, “it’s important to remember that we’re also receiving refugee arrivals who are not Afghans; we have arrivals coming in from Syria, Sudan, hopefully one from Eritrea soon. And so it’s also refugees coming from other environments.”
Everyone resettled by World Relief Durham is enrolled in initial resettlement programs, which include housing, ESL, school enrollment, getting connected to public benefits, cultural orientation, and other services. “We do triage when people first arrive — how ready are they for work, what documents are missing, do they have exigent medical conditions.” Although humanitarian parole does not include all of the rights and benefits held by those with Special Immigrant Visas or refugee status (notably, parole is considered a temporary status, without a direct path to a green card and naturalization), parolees do receive work authorization. “Most get enrolled in employment services fairly quickly,” Rebecca shared.
Refugees, Advocates, and Nonprofit Organizations Stress the Need for Better Messaging on How Afghan Refugees Experiencing PTSD Can Access Mental Health Resources
By Mona Dougani //
This story originally published online at NC Health News.
Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, and Raleigh are starting to see Afghan refugees, who were displaced from their home country in August, resettle in North Carolina.
As the refugees arrive, other Afghan residents already in this state have lessons to share about some of the mental health challenges that often accompany refugees fleeing turmoil who are suddenly thrust into a new life in a foreign place.
Since the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government on August 15 and U.S. troops withdrew from the country 15 days later, many who had lived in the country and fled for safety reasons are being dispersed around the globe.
But a larger exodus from Afghanistan has been going on for two decades now.
Over the years, roughly 6 million Afghans have been forcibly displaced from their homes, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. Of those 6 million, about 3.5 million are still living in Afghanistan, while 2.6 million are refugees living around the world.
North Carolina is expecting about 1,169 refugees in this most recent wave. Read more at the IndyWeek.
An Afghan Neighbor’s Call for Peace
By Adrienne Morton //
World Relief Durham had the privilege of welcoming and resettling an Afghan family of seven this past July, providing housing, school enrollment and support for the children, employment services, health care coordination, and other wraparound services that help them begin rebuilding their lives in Durham. Husband and father Shir Khan Shirzad recently shared some of his family’s story of moving from Afghanistan to Durham.
After graduating from high school in Afghanistan, Shir Khan Shirzad began working in a small grocery store to support himself and his family. Knowing that going to university wouldn’t be financially viable, he worked as a grocer until the United States forces arrived and began employing Afghans in various roles supporting the military operation.
In 2004, Shir Khan was introduced to his next employer—the U.S. military—after his nephew secured a job as an interpreter. His initial job was as an entry-level laborer supporting the U.S. military, but he worked hard and moved his way up to become head of all labor workers in a particular region.
Having worked for the U.S. government, Shir Khan knew that his safety would be at risk should the U.S. withdraw from Afghanistan. He recruited an English-speaking friend to help him begin the arduous process of submitting documents required for a Special Immigrant Visa. Shir Khan did not speak or read English, but he eventually taught himself enough to complete the first step of the process—the paperwork. It would be years before his case was processed, but he eventually secured an interview with the U.S. embassy in 2018. Even then his visa did not come through until 2021. He, his wife Fazila, and their five children arrived in Durham in July.
It has now been several months since Shir Khan left his house, country, job, brothers, sisters, nephews, culture—his home. When asked how he is getting along thus far in the U.S. he said, “me and my family are safe … it will take time for example, to know the culture, rules, everything about America.” Nonetheless, “we are still sad thinking about home … I don’t know how long it will take for us, living so far from our families in Afghanistan.”
Shir Khan struggled to find the words to sufficiently express his depth of sadness for the Afghan people. “[They are] innocent people, young people, not only for my family … I’m worried about all people there because Afghan people [have been] suffering for a long time. It seems endless for Afghan people.”
When asked how Americans can best support him and the Afghan people, he was quick to respond: “I just want peace in Afghanistan. They are suffering all of the time … just bring peace.”
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Photo “Northwestern Afghanistan” by koldo hormaza, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Todd Unzicker and Adam Clark: Christians must heed the call to welcome Afghan refugees and other vulnerable immigrants
By Todd Unzicker and Adam Clark //
More than 1,000 Afghans will resettle in North Carolina in the coming months after fleeing violence and oppression from the Taliban. When they arrive here, it will be up to North Carolinians to welcome them.
This presents a challenge, but it is also an opportunity. We can and must answer the call to welcome our vulnerable neighbors from across the world. As Christian leaders, we think a big part of the responsibility for doing so falls to us and our fellow believers, to those of us who call ourselves the body of Christ.
Our faith commands that we empathize with the suffering of refugees. Jesus himself, our Lord, fled persecution with his family as a child. Caring for the vulnerable demonstrates the great love that Christ first showed us, and we live out our calling as Christ-followers by welcoming and seeking justice for the “sojourner.”
Many are already answering this call to welcome. For example, Vic and Michele Wallace are long-time members of The Summit Church in Durham. The Wallaces have been serving refugees in the local community for the past decade as they have lived out biblical hospitality and been blessed by their new refugee friends. Read more at the Greensboro News & Record
BSC and World Relief Durham offer training on refugee, immigrant ministry
The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC) partnered with World Relief Durham yesterday (Sept. 23) to host an information session on serving immigrants and refugees. The session addressed assisting Afghan parolees and special immigrant visa holders resettling in North Carolina.
More than 30 pastors and church members from the Triangle area attended. Imago Dei Church in Raleigh hosted the event, according to a press release from World Relief.
Over the next six months, 1,169 Afghan refugees are projected to arrive in North Carolina, the News & Observer reported. World Relief Durham expects to resettle at least 80 refugees from Afghanistan in the next year, and about 300 from other countries. In addition to Raleigh and Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Greensboro and New Bern will also welcome refugees.
Read the full article by Biblical Recorder & World Relief Staff at the Biblical Recorder here.
These Triangle agencies will resettle nearly half of the Afghan refugees coming to NC
DURHAM — Grocery gift cards, free legal help, winter clothing … and the list of needs keeps growing for a now estimated 500 Afghan refugees that one Durham refugee agency will be resettling in the next year.
Kokou Nayo, refugee community organizer for Church World Service Durham, says among the most important things people looking to help can contribute are financial donations and temporary housing.
Since the last week of July, the organization has helped 14 Afghan refugees, including a family of eight.
In its monthly newsletter, World Relief Durham, another agency, said it expects to resettle 380 refugees in the next year, with at least 80 of them from Afghanistan. …
Read the full article by Laura Brache at the News & Observer here.
World Relief Durham Afghan Refugee Response Update
Hear from World Relief Durham’s Director Adam Clark about our response to the Afghan refugee situation and what we’re expecting over the next few months. We are so encouraged by the outpouring of support and generosity from our community, which will enable World Relief Durham to serve and help resettle refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, the DRC, and other countries.