fghanistan’s new year celebration is right around the corner! We’ve discussed it several times in sewing class to learn more about how the holiday is celebrated by the seamstresses in our program and their families on the other side of the world. If you’ve never heard of Nowruz (as we hadn’t), here’s quick rundown, along with some fun recipes.
Starting 2020 with a resolution to read more? You’re in good company! Lots of us make plans to add more reading to our schedule in the new year. Reading is so important. It helps us avoid the very narrow talking points that we find in the media, and instead learn to see important issues from …
The phone rang again and again. Faiza kept stopping mid-stitch to answer. I overheard the worried tones and the grief that was apparent even though I couldn’t understand the language being spoken. “There was a bombing in my hometown today,” she told me. “People injured, scared, killed. I’m trying to find out if all of …
CONGRATS to our winner, Beverly! She got the right answer – Bukavu City in the DRC. It’s right on the border of Rwanda & Congo. Our next “Where in the World” feature will go live on December 5th. Do you have the stuff to make a world traveler? Time to find out… Recently I was …
She didn’t have to be here. Hilly country. Dense jungles. Long trails. But she was called. For Eh Mhu, life was about more than just her own ambitions or desires. She was a Sunday School teacher, and now, God had called her to a remote place. She was heading to a village of an isolated …
NOTE: This is the first in our series on the brave women we’ve met and been inspired by in the refugee community.
Firouzeh* remembers when her husband came home that night. She’d just had their first child. Her husband arrived unexpectedly and rushed back to see the baby. Though it was a girl – and in their culture, girls aren’t always as prized as boys – he was delighted with his beautiful infant daughter.
But as they shared together in the joy of a baby, Firouzeh suddenly noticed multiple burn marks on his arm. “What is this?” she exclaimed. “Oh, that’s just from bullets flying by,” he replied. Shocked, she began to weep. She knew his job was dangerous, but seeing these burns and other injuries he’d sustained sent her into a full scale panic. “Please, please don’t go back,” she begged.
“I even fell at his feet,” she later recalled. “This is the strongest way of asking. I was pleading and pleading. But he told me he had to go, he had to help. He then had to sneak out of our village and get away before the sun came up again, otherwise he would have been in great danger.”
(U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)(Released)
Crucial to the US Military’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq have been the interpreters. These men enlisted with the US because they knew their family and their country was in desperate straits, and they believed America could bring that change. They fought side by side with the American troops, keeping their ears glued to the radios for insurgent chatter and being the go-between for the villagers and the military. As one US solider said, “These guys were our brothers. They fought alongside us.” Interpreters saved countless American lives during the wars.
And then the US troops pulled out. And the threats began to roll in.
In 2014, the International Refugee Assistance Project, a nonprofit based in New York City, estimated that an Afghan interpreter was being killed every 36 hours.
For Firouzeh’s husband, his work as an interpreter for US troops became known to the Taliban after a picture of him was published in a US military magazine. From that point on, home became a very dangerous place to be. For Firouzeh, the days ahead were full of challenge. Her family had to escape. She had to leave behind extended family. She’d already sacrificed so much during the war, and now this!
But she pushed forward bravely for her family and for her husband, finally arriving in North Carolina. She’s homesick for family and life is challenging. She’s faced prejudice from Americans who can’t see past the hijab. Yet she hasn’t given up. She’s mastered English. Learned to drive. Remodeled her home. Sewed for fashion designers. Created hand-woven jewelry. She’s entrepreneurial, constantly looking for new ways to provide for her family. Firouzeh is a brave, sweet woman and mother and friend. And her story is representative of the other interpreters’ wives who are now in the US. They and their families are such an asset to our country. We are honored to know and work with them.
Finding time to read, especially if you’ve got little kids in tow, can be a challenge. While we love books around here (find some of our book reviews here), and think it’s important to dig deep into justice issues, we’ve also run into the reality that sometimes there’s just not enough hours in the day! …
I’d had a rough day. I was tired, kids had demanded much of my attention, and then to top it all off, a toilet overflowed, requiring me to cancel a meeting. When a friend messaged me, I told her some of the story, but the whining that I wanted to do just didn’t seem like …
Hurrying through the store after a long day at work a few months ago, friendship was the last thing on my mind. I grabbed milk and a few other necessities and found my way to checkout, eager to get home to my husband and two small children. As I unloaded my cart, I noticed the …
🎥 On #MothersDay watch this adorable video of refugee mother Walaa and her four miracle babies pic.twitter.com/JsGwPBiEVA — UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) May 13, 2018