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Durham Will Welcome Refugees from Afghanistan for Resettlement
Durham extended its melody of providing solace to the stranger this week as County Commissioners Wendy Jacobs and Nida Allam announced that the Bull City is one of several cities across the country that will soon receive an unspecified number of Afghan refugees.
âIt is my understanding that we could receive up to 90 refugees in September,â Jacobs told the INDY on Wednesday. âThis is a lot considering that we were only receiving a few hundred per year, total [from all over the world] in Durham in the past, typically.â
Several non-profits, including Church World Service, Lutheran Services Carolinas, and World Relief Durham have stepped up to provide support services that will include housing and translation, Jacobs said on Monday during the Board of Commissionersâ regularly scheduled meeting. …
Read full article by Thomasi McDonald at the Indy Week here.
World Relief Spokane expecting arrival of Afghan refugees
World Relief Spokane talks about new Afghan arrivals and its history with Afghan refugees.
SPOKANE, Wash. – World Relief Spokane is expecting the arrival of Afghan refugees by the end of the week
World Relief said the next couple of months refugees are going to be needing help from finding housing, jobs, learning English and getting their kids into the school system.
Afghan families are being rapidly resettled in the US. But adjusting to their new lives will take years
BY MONICA CAMPBELL
Among the groups spearheading efforts to support Afghan refugees once they land in the US are refugee resettlement agencies and Afghan American groups.
âOur mission is to get you somewhere to live, get you enrolled in a jobs program, and get your first couple of months’ rent and utilities paid,â said Vanassa Hamra, with World Relief Sacramento, part of a larger refugee resettlement agency.
That is often the path for many refugees resettled in the US: They receive federal help with housing, enrolling kids in school and finding work. Those benefits can run out, however, within a year, so having affordable rent is critical once refugees are on their own.
See the full story on The World.
Learn what you can do to help Afghan refugees in Sacramento >>
For many Afghan refugees, the struggles donât end when they reach U.S. soil
BY ANITA CHABRIA, SARAH PARVINI
Here in Arden Arcade, a Sacramento neighborhood known for low rents in run-down apartments, Afghan refugees stressed that the United Statesâ obligations to help those who furthered the U.S. mission should not end when migrants land on American soil â as many felt it had for them.
From there begins a long journey often filled with hardship, from the red tape of receiving a Social Security number, signing up for social services and finding housing, to the disillusionment for many educated professionals of suddenly finding themselves at the bottom of the economic and social ladder, isolated by language and culture and often surrounded by crime, prejudice and need.
Even before the current crisis, some felt abandoned by a government that they believe delivered less than expected.
‘Nobody wants to live in that situation’: Local Afghan refugee watches news coverage of home country
“There are explosions. Explosives in schools, mosques; nobody wants to live in that situation.”
DURHAM
Milad Ghaznavi, 18, was reunited with his family here in Durham in January of this year. A student enrolled in World Relief Durham’s Refugee and Immigrant Youth Services (RIYS), he was interviewed by ABC11 to share his perspective on what is happening in Afghanistan and how it impacts families like his, here in Durham.
Watch Milad’s interview on ABC11 HERE
Learn about how to help our Afghan allies with World Relief Durham HERE.
Here’s how you can help Afghan refugees in Sacramento
BY MIKE DUFFY
SACRAMENTO, Calif. â Americans are more concerned than ever about what will become of Afghans fleeing their country. In truth, many could end up in the Sacramento area. Itâs one of the most popular locations for Afghan immigrants.
Kerry Ham is the director of World Relief Sacramento. It is an organization that works with the government to settle refugees. He knows firsthand why many Afghans choose Sacramento.
âIn resettlement, people go where their community is. And as many people know, one out of every nine Afghans in the United States come to the general Sacramento area,â Ham explained.
Learn what you can do to help Afghan refugees in Sacramento >>
Local Afghan Families Worry For Loved Ones Back Home: âI Donât Know If He Is Alive Right Nowâ
BY VELENA JONES
âNot only do they need to flee somewhere to be safe, but they need to rebuild their life and you just donât do that overnight. So, itâs so vital our services to secure them housing, to help cover the first couple months of rent, expenses, get them groceries, get them navigating our medical system, get them in school,â explained Vanassa Hamra, spokesperson for World Relief Sacramento.
Since 2016, World Relief Sacramento has resettled 2,327 families. Their Modesto branch has resettled 1,426 in the same time frame. The Sacramento branch was looking to bring even more people to the area when violence erupted.
âWe had 17 flights scheduled to arrive two days before August 16 when the government fell. That represents 84 individuals that are in limbo that should be here,â Hamra explained.
See the full story on CBS Sacramento.
Learn what you can do to help Afghan refugees in Sacramento >>
Resettlement agencies gear up as Afghan refugees arrive in NC. Hereâs how you can help.
DURHAM
It was a busy afternoon earlier this month as new workers moved in and employees carried boxes and paperwork from one room to another of the two-story John OâDaniel Exchange building on the edge of East Durham.
World Relief Durham, a local branch of the national, faith-based, refugee resettlement agency, was expanding in an unprecedented way.
After major cuts in federal funding for refugee agencies during the Trump administration, President Joe Biden approved $100 million in emergency aid for Afghan refugees July 24, just as the last U.S. troops trickled out of Afghanistan.
Adam Clark, the director of World Relief Durham, said the closest thing to what resettlement agencies like his are experiencing happened in the late 1970s after the Vietnam War.
âThis isnât a typical situation for refugee resettlement evacuation,â Clark said. âSudden flights coming into military bases is not typically how the process works.â
See the full story in The News&Observer here.
Learn how you can Help Our Afghan Allies with World Relief HERE.
Freedom: why one Afghan woman left home
This summer, our interns attended an ethical storytelling workshop in partnership with theâŻUniversity of Mississippi and Southern Foodways Alliance.âŻTo learn the ropes of the industry, they were tasked with interviewing immigrants within their community. Our Employment Services intern, Emma Perry, spoke with Samira, an Afghan refugee who faced religious persecution and now serves as an ambassador to the local Afghan community. This is her story as told to Emma.
âI graduated from high school in Afghanistan, and I was looking for a scholarship to study in Afghanistan. But I was looking to go abroad to study because in Afghanistan it is not safe for girls to study, they do not have that freedom in Afghanistan. It is that if a boy wants to get married you do not need to go study, you get married. Because of this I wished to go abroad to study and further my education. And then I got a scholarship to study in Mongolia, and my university was in English. My English was very basic, and then I started a one-year English language course and then entered university, I did three years of my university in Mongolia. And then I went back to Afghanistan.â
ââŠDuring that time, when I was in Afghanistan, some sort of security issue happened. One day, nearby, there was a suicide attack that happened, and it became dangerous there for me because I found Christ in Mongolia. A non-profit organization helped me and sent me to India. I stayed in India for a few months before I got an invitation to return to Mongolia. I finished my senior year, and they offered me a job in the admissions office. After that, it was not safe for me to go back to Afghanistan, so I opened a refugee case in Mongolia, and I got invited to the United States. I arrived in 2017, I went to Colorado Springs, but God had a different plan for me, and I came to Memphis. We moved to Memphis and then after a year my husband came from Australia. We have been here for three years now. My husband and I both have it in our hearts to reach out and help refugees.â
âMy first degree was business management, but since I came to the United States I could not find a job with that because the degree was not the same as it is in America. So, I changed my major here, to social work, and I just graduated. Now I have a baby girl and I stay here at home with her. I would like to get an MSW [masters of social work] so that I may help refugees like me, just as World Relief helps them.â
Samira, we are so glad to have you as part of our community, and our prayers are with you, your family, and your country. If you want to make a difference by helping those fleeing Afghanistan or persecution elsewhere, come join us this fall.
If youâre unable to volunteer at this time, please join us in praying for those impacted by the events of this weekend. You can text âPrayerâ to 901-617-4411 to get started.
âEvery single Afghan just lost their soulâ: NC families fear for safety of loved ones still in Afghanistan
WAKE FOREST N.C. (WNCN) â Right now, there are about 1,200 Afghan refugees already in the United States, but as many as 3,500 could arrive in the coming weeks with some to the Triangle.
For Afghan families living in central North Carolina, all they can do now is watch as their home country is taken over by the Taliban with concerns mounting for those left behind.
âEvery single family either inside Afghanistan or outside Afghanistan,â Frozan Sahel, who fled to the United States six years ago, said. âEvery single Afghan just lost their soul.â
See the full story on CBS17 here.
Learn how you can Help Our Afghan Allies with World Relief Durham HERE.
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