How Jewish communities across the US helped resettle 1,900 Afghan evacuees this year
On the first anniversary of the end of the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan as Taliban regained power, evacuees and Jewish volunteers reflect on the struggles of starting over
Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.
On September 1, 2021, Hadiya (last name withheld for security reasons) fled her home in Kabul with her parents Mirwais and Zarmina, and her older sister Marwa. All they took with them were their cell phones, a laptop computer, and the clothes on their backs.
Hadiya, 22, and her family escaped the Taliban takeover and the chaotic United States military withdrawal from Afghanistan following a 20-year war. Tuesday marks the first anniversary of the end of the pullout resulting in the evacuation of tens of thousands of US-affiliated and at-risk Afghans.
“We had to get out. My father had been a journalist in the past with Radio Azadi [formerly Radio Free Afghanistan] and was at the time working for the Afghan army. And my sister had a high profile position in the Afghan interior ministry,” Hadiya said.
Rather than heading to the mobbed Kabul airport, Hadiya and her family laid low at home until an American advisor told them to drive to another province seven hours away. They stayed there 20 days until the Taliban agreed to terms for their exit. The US military flew the family to a base in Qatar. They were there for a month before being transferred to a military base in Virginia, where they lived with other evacuees for more than two months.
In an interview with The Times of Israel from her new home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Hadiya said that her family would have been in “a bad situation,” had they not been helped by volunteers from the Harrisburg Jewish community.
Hadiya referred to a partnership between Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Shapiro Foundation in a $1 million initiative to support Jewish community organizations in resettlement efforts of over 1,900 Afghan evacuees across 15 communities and 12 states.
By supporting volunteer coordination, caseworkers, and cash assistance, the Shapiro Foundation funding complements the work done by HIAS and other agencies who were responsible for the initial relocation services for Afghan families from the military bases.
Stepping up to help
One of the grantees was Jewish Family Service of Greater Harrisburg (JFS) which worked with the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg and other community organizations to engage 75 volunteers in local resettlement efforts. Volunteers provided the evacuees with the resources, skills, tools, and the necessary support system to be successful in starting their lives anew.
The program was operated in cooperation with the Biden Administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program, which partners with private companies and nonprofit organizations to facilitate the resettlement of Afghan evacuees. According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 80,000 displaced Afghans have been resettled into communities thus far.
“Over 75,000 evacuees were sleeping on military bases. We had to do something to get them off of those,” said Darcy Hirsh, managing director of public affairs for JFNA.
A webinar introducing the resettlement initiative held in October 2021 attracted 200 participants from Jewish communities around the US.
“I was blown away by the interest, especially by communities that had never engaged in refugee resettlement efforts before,” Hirsh said.
JFNA moved quickly to open the application process, and awards were made by late December. The grants and supplemental local fundraising, were critical because the Afghans are classified as humanitarian parolees, and are therefore ineligible for the financial support extended by the US government to refugees. (Congress later allocated some funding to resettle Afghan refugees in September 2021.)
Hadiya and her family arrived in Harrisburg in January of this year. Retired cardiologist Mark Glick was among the volunteers to welcome them.
“As I followed the news, I knew that these Afghan evacuees would need help. I am involved in a lot of social justice and social action projects in my synagogue and community, so this seemed like something I could do,” Glick said.
Glick, 64, stepped up to be captain of one of the four welcome circles in Harrisburg. His group took responsibility for Hadiya’s family and four single men. Each of the three other welcome circles hosted large families, including some with children with special needs.
“JFS staff and social workers spearheaded the program. They gave us full support and were very responsive. We all learned together as we went along,” Glick said.
After finding housing for the newcomers, the main goal was to help them get on their feet economically.
“That has been challenging for several reasons. First, many of the Afghans don’t speak English, and all the mothers of the families are illiterate even in their own language. Second, Harrisburg area public transportation is limited and you need private transportation to get to work,” Glick said.
“With help from JFS, we were able to find jobs for the Afghans where the employer arranged for transportation. Also, almost all the Afghans by now have bikes, and some have cars, including Hadiya’s dad,” he said.
The majority of the jobs lined up for the newcomers have been blue collar, such as assembly work line, packing at factories, or working at a poultry factory.
With the advantage of having learned English in high school and college in Kabul, Hadiya landed a position assisting in a pre-kindergarten class at the Harrisburg Jewish Community Center.
I am learning about Judaism and they are learning about Islam from me. There is mutual respect
“The kids are so cute, and I like the teachers. It has been nice for me to get to know the Jewish community. I am learning about Judaism and they are learning about Islam from me. There is mutual respect,” Hadiya said.
“I learned that like us, [kosher observant] Jews don’t eat pork. And I now know Hebrew words like ‘Shabbat’ and ‘shalom,’ and also the hamotzi song,” she said referring to the version of the blessing before eating bread that is often sung in American Jewish preschools and at Jewish summer camps.
Hadiya’s father has found work packing car parts, and her mother has been hired to set up the kiddush (post-service refreshments) on Shabbat at two local synagogues. Her sister departed the United States for a third country to marry her fiancé.
“We didn’t have a car yet when my sister left. We were so happy that a volunteer took us to the airport to see her off. It was such an emotional time,” Hadiya shared.
Adapting to American culture
According to Glick, providing emotional support for anxious evacuees — far from home, in culture shock, and worried about loved ones left behind — was as important as helping them with practical matters.
“I was available 24/7 for any need. I was getting 25-30 texts a day on my phone. I used a translator app to communicate. I can tell things are going much smoother now because recently I’ve been getting maybe one text or phone call every other day,” he said.
While things are humming along now, there was a lot to do at first. Volunteers helped the Afghans deal with bureaucratic matters such as enrolling for food stamps, accessing healthcare, and registering for ESL (English as a Second Language) lessons.
The Afghans have been paroled for only two years
There was also the matter of getting into the groove of everyday life in America, such as grocery shopping, learning how to use household appliances, connecting to local mosques, and adapting to American culture.
The children had to be enrolled in schools. In Hadiya’s case, it was a matter of getting back on track with her academic studies in computer science. She had completed a year and a half at a private university in Kabul and was eager to hit the books again.
The Harrisburg volunteers raised the funds for her to attend the summer semester at a local community college. She has won a scholarship that will enable her to continue.
“My credits from Kabul were not recognized, so I had to start over. I will do two years at the community college and will transfer to a four-year college. My ultimate goal is to be a successful app developer,” Hadiya said.
Hadiya and her family’s ability to stay in the US long-term is dependent on their ability to apply for and receive permanent immigration status.
“There is no going home for these people. The Afghans have been paroled for only two years. They would have to seek asylum, which is a long and arduous process, ” JFNA’s Hirsh said.
JFNA, along with many other Jewish and non-Jewish organizations and agencies, are lobbying for the passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would allow certain current and future Afghan humanitarian parolees to apply for legal permanent status after one or two years in the US without losing their jobs or being deported to a third country while waiting for their application to be processed.
Such programs were enacted for past US wartime evacuations, including for Cubans after the rise of Castro, Southeast Asians after the fall of Saigon, and Iraqi Kurds during the rule of Saddam Hussein.
“The United States is so different from my country, but this is where we are now,” said Hadiya, who is optimistic about her future in a country where she is free to pursue her education and live as she pleases.
“Women who are still in Afghanistan have lost everything now,” she said.
