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Why World Relief Chicagoland Staff Are Thankful This Year
As we approach the end of the year and the start of the holiday season, many of us take time to reflect on the year behind us. We consider what we have to be thankful for. For some, the previous year was difficult, full of hard things and grief. That might make this holiday season feel painful or bittersweet. For others, this year has seen immense change or big life milestones.
Yes, practicing gratitude in the face of suffering and change is difficult. And yet, reflecting on what we have to be grateful for can help us be more hopeful as we seek joy and practice thankfulness.
At World Relief Chicagoland, we have seen God’s faithfulness in countless ways. Even amid big challenges and sad events, there is much to be grateful for. Because of that, we asked staff to share what they are thankful for this year. And the responses were inspiring! Join us in practicing gratitude today and read our staff’s testimonies below.
We believe that there are so many reasons to give thanks! Join us in counting your blessings. As a result, you might even see God’s grace and goodness in your life in new ways.
What are you thankful for this year?
I am grateful for trusting relationships with the people we serve and the chance to speak Swahili with some of them. I am also thankful to have friends among my coworkers and for the vibrant neighborhood and friends in Albany Park where our Chicago office is located, an office cube to make into a hospitable space, and the opportunity to worship each morning at our 8:30 prayer time.
– Katelyn Skye Bennett, Employment Counselor
I am grateful to work on a team that is passionate about serving refugees and other immigrants in learning English so that the students can fully integrate into the community and workplace.
– Mary Cerutti, Education Director, Suburbs
This year, I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of the World Relief family. I have felt welcomed and challenged to grow in my walk with God during morning prayer and words of encouragement from coworkers. I am so thankful to form part of a Christ-centered organization that supports and empowers the immigrant and refugee community through a holistic and sustainable approach while exemplifying the love of Christ.
– Brenda De Leon, Immigration Legal Services Paralegal
Welcoming our new neighbors…
Reflecting on 2021, I’m thankful that so many churches and volunteers are standing with us as we welcome arriving families and build community with immigrants and refugees who are already living in our neighborhoods and communities.
– Sara Aardema, Church and Volunteer Engagement Director, Chicago
One thing that I am grateful for is to work in an office when I can freely mention Jesus and prayer. I am also thankful that every day, I get to go to work and make a difference in someone’s life. Being the hands and feet of Jesus is priceless.
– Isoken Aiwerioba, Office Manager
I am grateful for the partnership with churches across Chicagoland, which are contributing to the reach of our God-given work in building and creating communities of love and welcome! Thank you, churches, for being the hands and feet of Jesus to strangers!
– Adrian Hendarta, Church Mobilization Coordinator
Making an impact, together…
Reflecting on 2021, I am grateful to work in a place where people make a difference and impact other people’s lives in the community and all around the world. World Relief has been an answered prayer in my life, and in many people’s lives. It is a blessing to be part of this work.
– Andrea Rodriguez, Immigration Legal Services Administrative Assistant
I am grateful for the foundation partners who believe in creating a brighter future and investing in their communities. That vision inspires me and reminds me that by working together, we really can create just and welcoming communities where everyone thrives.
– Carrie Woodward, Foundations Partnerships Manager
This year, I am so grateful for the incredible outpouring of love from our church partners. I am thankful for their strong interest in volunteering, generous giving, and inspiring their members to engage.
– Keith Draper, Church and Volunteer Engagement Director, DuPage & Aurora
What are YOU grateful for?
Thank you for reading what World Relief Chicagoland staff are grateful for! Now, spend some time thinking about the blessings in your life and work. What are those things that you are thankful for?
Finally, share your reflections with us! We want to hear from you! Please share what you are grateful for by tagging @WorldReliefChicagoland on Facebook or @WRChicagoland on Instagram or Twitter.
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.
Thanksgiving: Inviting You to a Moment of Praise and Prayer
As we enter into the holiday season, what are you most thankful for? Maybe it is the birth of a new grandchild this year, more time spent with your family, tending a garden this past summer, spending time in nature, or even experiencing the struggles in life that led to growth.
As an organization motivated by Christian faith, World Relief Chicagoland considers our gratitude as a moment to see God at work in our midst and respond in prayer. How can you do the same? The Psalmist captures this gratitude as he celebrates God’s love and compassion. He responds in praise.
In Psalm 103, we read:
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5 NIV
Moments of Praise
A call to praise God is often the climax of praise in the Psalter. Here at World Relief, there are many ways we can praise God for his work as we enter into Thanksgiving. May we take a moment to recognize and praise God for his love and compassion.
- Between our three offices in Aurora, Chicago, and DuPage County, we have welcomed nearly 200 arrivals since September 1st.
- Our Chicago office began welcoming newly arriving refugee families for the first time since 2018.
- Well over 1100 people have inquired to volunteer in the past three months.
- Students attending the Careers Pathways class were hired in well-paying positions to support their families.
- More students have been able to take part in English classes because they are virtual.
Moments of Prayer
At the same time, there are many ways we are asking God to move in the months ahead. This Thanksgiving, will you join the World Relief community in prayer for lasting change?
- For all the new refugee arrivals for smooth adjustments to the United States and to be able to adapt to the weather this winter.
- For our refugee and Afghan evacuee’s who are arriving to the United States with high expectations and finding everything much more difficult than they expect it to be from housing to jobs.
- More volunteers to tutor students who are learning English.
- The right people to join the World Relief Chicagoland team as there are many open positions and that these new staff members would feel welcomed.
- Permanent housing options that are affordable for families to move into upon their arrival.
- For our Immigration Legal Services team who are hearing about many situations of people processing trauma and feeling very overwhelmed.
- For World Relief Chicagoland staff to find times of rest and renewal this holiday season.
Join us in Prayer
We’re reminded that while creating change isn’t easy, it’s possible when we move together. May we pray this prayer of thanksgiving as we gather with friends and family this holiday season.
God of all blessings, source of all life, giver of all grace: […]
We thank you for setting us in communities: for families who nurture our becoming, for friends who love us by choice, for companions at work, who share our burdens and daily tasks, for strangers who welcome us into their midst, for people from other lands, who call us to grow in understanding, for children, who lighten our moments with delight, for the unborn, who offer us hope for the future.
Vienna Cobb Anderson
We thank you for this day: for life and one more day to love, for opportunity and one more day to work for justice and peace, for neighbors and one more person to love and by whom be loved, for your grace and one more experience of your presence, for your promise: to be with us, to be our God, and to give salvation.
For these, and all blessings, we give you thanks, eternal, loving God, through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
We would love for you to share these moments of praise and prayer with your family and friends. When you share this post, tag World Relief Chicagoland on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Thank you for joining World Relief Chicagoland in praying for our refugee and immigrant neighbors as they rebuild a new life in our community.
How to “Drive” Change by Donating Your Car
I still have my first car. It’s a blue Honda with hundreds of thousands of mileage. That car has taken me from Georgia to California and back. It saw me through a spontaneous road trip from Tennessee to Connecticut when I was in college. It has traversed the red rock hills of Sedona, Arizona, and the city streets of Chicago, Illinois. This car has blasted me with air conditioning on the hottest summer days and kept me safe and dry when storms poured rain on my way to work. All in all, my faithful little car has been my transportation across 26 states. Without fail, it has gotten me where I needed to go.
That blue Honda is so reliable that I rarely thought twice about making plans, driving to work, or volunteering to carpool with coworkers.
And then it unexpectedly landed in the auto repair shop.
The repair took three weeks. That meant three weeks without a vehicle. And those three weeks showed me how much I relied on my car. So many of my plans were contingent on being able to drive any time. Having a reliable car meant always having transportation. The flexibility to make plans. Never wondering how I would get to work each day. I could drive to the doctor and get there on time. Family never wondered if I could pick them up at the airport.
Without my car, I was limited.
However, I also learned how many advantages I have. Advantages that many people don’t have. These advantages meant that losing my car for three weeks was an annoyance, not a disaster. Because of where I live, I can walk, ride the bus, or take the train nearly everywhere I want to go. I work from home often, so I didn’t have to worry about losing my income. And because I have friends with cars, I was even able to borrow a vehicle for the day when I needed it.
What if that hadn’t been the case?
What if no car meant three weeks of not making it to work? That could mean losing a job that I worked hard to get and need for income. All of a sudden, my ability to pay rent would be in jeopardy. Going to the doctor, shopping for groceries… all of these things would become much more difficult, time-consuming, and inconvenient. Transportation barriers regularly impact people’s health care access. They increase isolation. And lack of transportation is a major obstacle to employment for millions of Americans.
The Barrier of Transportation
At World Relief Chicagoland, we frequently talk about the barriers that immigrants and refugees face when they arrive in the United States. Those barriers come in all shapes and sizes – they can be anything that keeps families from accomplishing their goals.
Oftentimes, for those whose new homes are in the suburbs, near World Relief’s offices in Aurora and DuPage County, one of the biggest barriers is transportation.
Consider this:
- Suburban neighborhoods often don’t have access to buses and trains, or routes don’t cover every area.
- Carpooling is a good option, but only if everyone’s schedule matches up. This doesn’t work very well if you work an unusual shift or have commitments like picking your child up from daycare by a certain time.
- Uber and Lyft can work in a pinch, but the cost per ride is high and adds up quickly.
- Because of the current lack of affordable housing, people will take apartments wherever they can – but this might put them out of walking distance from their community and limit their access to carpools.
Two Stories
Right now, World Relief knows a family of six who live with a relative in Aurora. This relative has a car, so they are hoping to find affordable housing near her so that she can take the adults to work and help them run errands. This is their best option because there aren’t any carpool or public transport options nearby, although the father of the family already has his driver’s license. Getting a car would mean the family has more flexibility in housing and the ability to drive to work, pick up groceries, and make it to doctor’s appointments – all on their own, without relying on their relative.
Another family we know is a single mother and her son. This mom is on her own, but determined to work hard to support her son. The first step toward getting a job is access to childcare—and thankfully, World Relief staff connected her with an amazing and affordable place where her son will be safe and cared for throughout the day. However, the daycare is only open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. – and the only carpool in her area is on a schedule that won’t let her pick up her son on time. Having access to a car will open amazing opportunities for this mom to drive to her job, work to support her son, and pick him up at the end of the day.
For these families, access to a car unlocks an incredible future. Lack of access limits that potential.
The Unmatched Impact of Donating Your Car
World Relief Chicagoland can count the families who need a car right now. Receiving a car right now would change their lives completely. And each car would have a rippling impact far beyond one individual or family.
If we had six cars right now, we would be able to give them out within two to four weeks. That would provide transportation to as many as twenty-four people who have jobs at up to six different companies.
– World Relief Chicagoland Employment Team staff member
Think of it like this – each car not only serves a person’s entire family, but it begins a new carpool opportunity that provides regular transportation for up to five or six people in the community who work at the same company. One car makes it possible for families to access other community resources, participate in events, visit relatives in other towns, and run errands in a more efficient manner.
How do we connect these families to vehicles?
How did you get your first car? What about your first job?
My blue Honda made it possible for me to drive to internships in college, take my roommate to medical appointments after an injury, move across the country for a new job post-college, and get to work every day once there. It’s not fancy. But it has always gotten me where I needed to go. My family gave me this car as a young adult, and it was a vital part of launching me into my adult life and career as I was just starting out.
Immigrant and refugee families who are rebuilding their lives in the U.S. face all kinds of barriers. But transportation should not be one of them.
Waiting to buy a car will prevent them from accessing the job opportunities and community resources that will create financial stability in the first place. And yet it would be impossible for most families to pay thousands of dollars to buy a car now.
You can jump-start their process to thriving by donating your car to World Relief Chicagoland. When you do, you will remove the barrier of transportation for as many as five or six immigrant or refugee families. And by removing the barrier of transportation, you create career opportunities and a positive economic impact that touches everyone in the community.
Will you be swapping your car for a newer model this season? Do you need a bigger vehicle to accommodate your family’s needs? If so, consider donating your car to World Relief Chicagoland.
The gift of transportation is a tangible way to change lives.
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Downloadable Gift Card: Give in Honor of Someone You Love this Holiday Season
What kind of present do you get for the friend or family member who has it all? This year, we have an answer! With this downloadable gift card, give in honor of your loved one to World Relief Chicagoland. You will gain the knowledge that your gift is making a life-changing difference for an immigrant or refugee. And by giving in honor of your friend or family member, you will both know that, together, you are helping to change lives for the long-term.
How to Give in Honor of Your Loved One
1. Give Online
To give in honor of your friend or family member, first, choose your amount and donate online. Whatever the amount, you will know that your gift is making a lasting impact on an immigrant or refugee in a vulnerable situation this holiday season!
2. Download A Gift Card
We created a special gift card for you to download and send to your loved ones – or leave under the tree on Christmas morning! With this card, you can show them the impact they will be making through the gift you gave in their honor. Not only is this a meaningful way to show your loved ones that you are thinking of them, but they will be inspired by how together, we are helping immigrant and refugee families to thrive!
Download Your Gift Card Now
3. Print & Fold Your Gift Card
How to fold your card:
First, fold the paper in half.
Next, fold in half horizontally.
Finally, Write your personal message inside and give to your loved one!
*If you find that upon printing, the gift card is off-center, please check your print settings and adjust to “default” mode.
Thank you for giving to help immigrants and refugees rebuild their lives and seize a brighter future!
Benjamin Marsh: A plea for the Dreamers
As a pastor to a community of immigrants, Benjamin Marsh is very passionate about those who were brought to America as children having a pathway to citizenship. These individuals, termed “Dreamers,” have been shielded and protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. However, the days of DACA are numbered. Now, many fear they will lose the only place they have ever called home.
Marsh points out the facts: many of them served as essential workers during the pandemic, work in education, and other frontline capacities. He also references Galatians 6 to compel evangelical readers to consider why they should not ignore the plight of their neighbors.
Learn and read more about what this local pastor has to say about immigration and advocacy here: Benjamin Marsh: A plea for the Dreamers | Columnists | journalnow.com.
How the Affordable Housing Crisis Is Impacting Refugee Families
We all want to build communities where refugees and immigrants are welcome. But how can we do that if they don’t even have a place to call home? The lack of affordable housing has created a challenge – but it’s one we can work together to tackle.
The U.S. is in the middle of an affordable housing crisis right now. Perhaps you’ve even experienced this yourself. If so, you’re not alone! For millions of families, the dream of homeownership feels hopelessly out of reach. College graduates beginning their careers face high rent prices that force them to live with four, maybe five roommates.
Across the country, more and more Americans are spending the majority of their income on rent. They are struggling to even find affordable housing. And houses are selling far out of a middle-class household’s price range.
Sadly, this lack of affordable housing is preventing newcomers, including low-income immigrants and refugees, from achieving a stable sense of home here in the United States.
The Housing Crisis’ Impact on Refugees and Immigrants
When Daniel arrived as a refugee in the United States, sleeping with a roof over his head every night was a new experience. Finally, after living in refugee settlements and sleeping under plastic tarps for years, he now had an apartment of his own.
Like Daniel, many refugees come to the United States having not lived in a home of their own for years – or at all. They may come from U.S. military bases (in the case of Afghan evacuees), a refugee camp, or a cramped space shared with friends and family. Others were displaced more recently but lost their homes in terrifying circumstances as they fled violence or natural disasters.
Establishing a home in the United States is an important first step toward recovery after the loss of so much. Refugees have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and often their family. They have to rebuild their lives in the U.S. – and feeling at home in a new house or apartment paves the way for their future success. From getting a new job to enrolling in school and exercising hospitality for new friends and family…thriving begins with home.
But not having affordable housing can jeopardize that.
The Housing Situation in Chicagoland
In Chicago and the nearby suburbs, families face several big challenges when seeking to establish a home.
- There is a decreasing number of affordable housing units available to low-income families.
- Families are paying more than half of their income on rent and utilities each month (30% is considered affordable).
- Combined, these factors make it harder for families to pay for other essentials, including healthy food and medical care.
- As a result, families are at higher risk of eviction and homelessness – which is devastating for families.
Sadly, the COVID eviction moratorium, which ensured that renters did not lose their housing, put financial pressure on landlords. Their loss of income and subsequent debt have motivated them to sell properties to developers. New investors “flip” properties, renovating to increase the rental value, making the same apartment unaffordable to low-income renters.
Unfortunately, property sales have also led to a loss of relationships between landlords and organizations like World Relief. These relationships of trust are crucial. Refugees who are new to the U.S. often do not yet have jobs, credit scores, or even social security numbers. Because of that, many landlords feel that renting a refugee family is a big risk.
World Relief can facilitate relationships and vouch for refugee families, but when landlords sell to new developers, those relationships disappear.
Refugees need available, affordable housing that is fully furnished with basic household items. This is essential for helping new arrivals understand their rights and responsibilities as tenants while building financial literacy and stability. And you can help make that possible.
Together, We Can Respond
At World Relief, we have found that paying rent is an important part of the adjustment process for refugee families. In fact, it helps refugee families build credit, learn U.S. financial systems, and understand tenant rights and responsibilities. It also provides a relationship to a landlord and creates the experience of true ownership of their living environment.
But paying rent can become a heavy burden if it costs most of the income from minimum wage jobs.
You can help by covering the cost of an apartment deposit and the first month’s rent. This buys time for a recently-arrived refugee family to settle in. For them to find and start a new job. And for them to start finding their way through a new culture.
But we still need long-term solutions.
World Relief is calling upon our partners and supporters to join in addressing the housing crisis throughout Chicagoland. Together, we can find affordable apartments with landlords who will rent to refugees, we can provide rent assistance to subsidize the cost of housing, and all of our neighbors can join together to advocate for new affordable housing development and the preservation of existing affordable units.
Three approaches to the affordable housing issue:
1. Subsidizing the cost of rent for refugee families.
Through rental assistance, we discount the cost of an apartment for a refugee family. This makes an otherwise unaffordable unit affordable. Give now!
2. Creating community connections.
Did you know that one of the best ways you can help is by connecting World Relief to people you know in real estate and the housing sector? We need landlords, property managers, and organizations to work together. That’s how we develop new permanent housing options that are affordable!
Do you have connections in these priority areas?
- Aurora
- Bloomingdale
- Carol Stream
- Evanston
- Glen Ellyn
- Glendale Heights
- Lombard
- Montgomery
- Morton Grove
- Oswego
- Rogers Park
- Skokie
- Villa Park
- West Chicago
- West Ridge
- Wheaton
3. Advocating locally, state-wide, and nationally.
Lastly, you can impact your neighborhood and beyond! Join advocacy work to create affordable housing, provide rental assistance vouchers, and save homes. When we advocate to develop and save affordable housing units, we take a step toward long-term solutions to this national problem.
Creating Home by Leading the Change
It’s through community collaboration and coordination that we can brainstorm solutions and create innovative solutions! If you have a permanent housing connection, please email chicagolandhousing@wr.org. As a result, you will help connect refugees and immigrants to safe, affordable housing. And that will change lives forever.
Together, we can ensure that every refugee has a place to call home.
Todd Unzicker and Adam Clark: Christians must heed the call to welcome Afghan refugees and other vulnerable immigrants
By Todd Unzicker and Adam Clark //
Todd Unzicker, executive director-treasure of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and Adam Clark, director of World Relief Durham, spoke out about the importance of welcoming incoming Afghan arrivals and others who will resettle in North Carolina within the upcoming weeks and months. “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.”
MarĂa’s Story: Letter from a New U.S. Citizen
One of the most unique aspects of World Relief Chicagoland’s work serving immigrants and refugees is the diversity of people we get to meet. Each year, World Relief Chicagoland staff serve people who came to the United States from one of more than 100 different countries of origin. Together, they speak dozens of different languages.
Each brings a unique perspective, skills, and dreams for their life. For some, the dream is becoming a U.S. citizen.
Overcoming Barriers to Achieve Big Goals
However, these immigration neighbors also face unique barriers. Financial, cultural, language, and legal barriers keep them from experiencing legal justice. From reuniting with their families. From achieving their goals. Or from becoming U.S. citizens.
Because World Relief has been a trusted presence in Chicagoland for so long, it’s very common for those we serve to bring their friends and family back to World Relief offices when they need support.
Community members know that World Relief is a safe place where trusted staff and volunteers will help them reach their goals.
The Immigration Legal Services program staff are among these trusted staff. The immigration process can be confusing. Understanding the law and legal processes can be overwhelming. And navigating the legal system as an immigrant or refugee can be expensive and stressful. As experts in immigration law as well as the challenges faced by newcomers to the United States and the experiences of immigrants and refugees, World Relief’s Immigration Legal Services team builds relationships with people amid these stressful circumstances and becomes a vital source of information, counsel, and legal representation. They are problem solvers with people who have complex legal needs. They become trusted allies.
Meet MarĂa
MarĂa’s story shows how World Relief staff build relationships when providing legal representation. Like many others, MarĂa came to World Relief through a referral by a friend. She felt like she had tried everything, and yet was getting nowhere. She was exhausted by the complex and costly legal system. Then her friend recommended she visit World Relief.
Even though I did my citizenship process in the middle of the pandemic, this amazing team of lawyers did everything for me by Zoom – no contact – helping and guiding me through every step.
MarĂa, an immigration legal services client
Not only did MarĂa receive legal help with her immigration process once, and then twice, but she ended up referring other family members too! After completing her naturalization process to become a U.S. Citizen, MarĂa wrote this letter to express her thanks.
Read the Letter from a New U.S. Citizen
Hello! Greetings. My name is MarĂa. I was born in Venezuela. Because of the complicated and delicate social and political situation in my country, I decided to come to this country [the United States] nine years ago. I met my husband in 2015. When we decided to get married, we needed guidance. After calling various immigration lawyers, it was too much information [for us] to process. We felt at a loss.
A friend of mine recommended we call World Relief.
We made an appointment. We met with one of their dear lawyers, Emily, and she guided us through the whole process. Everything went quite fast, [with] never an obstacle or mistake. It was a flawless process.
This was the reason we decided, when it was time, to also apply for my citizenship with World Relief.
Even though I did my citizenship process in the middle of the pandemic, this amazing team of lawyers did everything for me by Zoom – no contact – always helping and guiding me through every step.
Again, no mistakes. They were always so careful and checked every document that we filled out, making sure that no errors were made. It was also quite faster than expected.
I received my interview date in just eight months although it was supposed to take a year or more. [World Relief] helped me check the process. I’m not very good with computers and technology, but they were always there to help, always answered all my questions by phone or email. They also guided me through all the possible scenarios for the citizenship interview. It all ran smoothly, I brought everything they told me and followed their instructions.
I’m a very happy and proud citizen now, and I am sure I would not have been able to do this without World Relief. I am very thankful for all their guidance and help.
I pray you can continue helping others as you helped me. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
MarĂa
Helping Our Immigrant Neighbors Thrive
World Relief Chicagoland walks with people like MarĂa to serve immigrant community members on the path to stable immigration status, giving them the security and peace-of-mind they need to flourish in the U.S.
Do you or someone you know need immigration legal services? Are you interested in providing more people like MarĂa with trusted legal guides to navigate their immigration process? You can help new Americans reunite with their family, become citizens, gain work authorization, and achieve protection from violence.
Learn more about World Relief Chicagoland’s Immigration Legal Services program.
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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
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