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I helped U.S. troops in Afghanistan. I’m safe now, but I worry for friends I left behind.

Program participant Seeta Habib and her family were resettled in Memphis in October 2020 through the special immigrant visa program. She and her husband had served as interpreters and journalists for U.S. forces in their home country, and they were consequently targeted by the Taliban. This is her story.

When the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 1996, millions of Afghan girls were shut out of school. I was one of them.

It wasn’t until the eventual defeat of the Taliban government in 2001, when I was 13 years old, that I entered a school for the first time in five years. 

It was one of the happiest days of my life, but it was still a dangerous time to be a girl in Afghanistan, seeking an education. I learned English secretly, in a private class outside of school, and when I graduated, I knew I wanted to be a part of Afghanistan’s reconstruction. I became a print journalist for a magazine operated by NATO’s security mission in Afghanistan, the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force in Farah, in the western part of Afghanistan. There, I covered ISAF activities having a positive impact in the community. 

Read the full story on USA Today’s site now.

I helped U.S. troops in Afghanistan. I’m safe now, but I worry for friends I left behind.

Program participant Seeta Habib and her family were resettled in Memphis in October 2020 through the special immigrant visa program. She and her husband had served as interpreters and journalists for U.S. forces in their home country, and they were consequently targeted by the Taliban. This is her story.

When the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 1996, millions of Afghan girls were shut out of school. I was one of them.

It wasn’t until the eventual defeat of the Taliban government in 2001, when I was 13 years old, that I entered a school for the first time in five years. 

It was one of the happiest days of my life, but it was still a dangerous time to be a girl in Afghanistan, seeking an education. I learned English secretly, in a private class outside of school, and when I graduated, I knew I wanted to be a part of Afghanistan’s reconstruction. I became a print journalist for a magazine operated by NATO’s security mission in Afghanistan, the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force in Farah, in the western part of Afghanistan. There, I covered ISAF activities having a positive impact in the community. 

Read the full story on USA Today’s site now.

World Relief urges Congress to act on immigration reform after judge blocks DACA, declaring it illegal

World Relief urges Congress to act on immigration reform after judge blocks DACA, declaring it illegal

Image: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque


by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post 

A Christian humanitarian organization has denounced a recent ruling by a Texas federal judge that prohibits new applications from being filed for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that protects some people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children from being deported.

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I helped U.S. troops in Afghanistan. I’m safe now, but I worry for friends I left behind.

Program participant Seeta Habib and her family were resettled in Memphis in October 2020 through the special immigrant visa program. She and her husband had served as interpreters and journalists for U.S. forces in their home country, and they were consequently targeted by the Taliban. This is her story.

When the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 1996, millions of Afghan girls were shut out of school. I was one of them.

It wasn’t until the eventual defeat of the Taliban government in 2001, when I was 13 years old, that I entered a school for the first time in five years. 

It was one of the happiest days of my life, but it was still a dangerous time to be a girl in Afghanistan, seeking an education. I learned English secretly, in a private class outside of school, and when I graduated, I knew I wanted to be a part of Afghanistan’s reconstruction. I became a print journalist for a magazine operated by NATO’s security mission in Afghanistan, the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force in Farah, in the western part of Afghanistan. There, I covered ISAF activities having a positive impact in the community. 

Read the full story on USA Today’s site now.

Biden Boosts U.S. Refugee Cap to 62,500

Bloomberg


President Joe Biden is quadrupling the limit set by former President Donald Trump on the number of refugees who can enter the U.S. by the end of September. Bloomberg’s Jordan Fabian and World Relief’s Jenny Yang discuss the move on “Quicktake Charge.” 

Watch here

Pray for These People If You Care about the Plight of Refugees

Pray for These People If You Care about the Plight of Refugees

Image: T. Albinson / IAFR Asylum seeker camp near Athens // Christianity Today


By Mark Finney, Director of World Relief Spokane

In prayer, we can transform God’s church into a place of friendship for the foreigner, for the oppressed and for our global neighbors in need. Today and every day I pray for the refugees I’ve met and heard. And I think it’s important to share my prayer with the world.

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Biden flip-flops on refugee policy after blowback for keeping Trump-era restrictions

PBS News Hour


Friday saw the Biden administration giving mixed messages on refugee admission. After receiving blowback for keeping the historically low refugee cap set by President Trump, the White House quickly reversed its position, and said it will move to lift them. Yamiche Alcindor has more on the flip-flop, and discusses it with Jenny Yang, the vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief.

Watch here

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