Afghanistan

<p>This month marks two years since the evacuation at Kabul, in which more than 120,000 Afghans fled the country after the Taliban regained control of the city. Close to 100,000 now call the United States home, but hardships followed many of them across the border.</p><p>“I think there is a reasonable amount of empathy to Afghan veterans,” said John Moses, a Chelmsford resident and veteran who served in Afghanistan. “And if they don’t have empathy, I make sure I remind them that they told me they had empathy.”</p><p>Moses, also a Chelmsford School Committee member, rallied local volunteers to form a neighborhood support team, which assists specific families in their transition to a new life in their community — in essence, it’s a “local support arm” of the federal immigration process, Moses said.</p><p>Even with designated help, Moses said there are still lapses in information for resources, funding and advocacy for refugees whose families remained overseas. There is only so much volunteers could do.</p><p>With that in mind, Moses is founding the Massachusetts Afghan Alliance, a “middleman” organization that will work between the neighborhood support teams and resettlement agencies to ensure “better outcomes for Afghan families,” he said. They intend to serve people across the 3rd Congressional District, including Chelmsford, Lowell, Townsend, Westford, Haverhill, Ashburnham and elsewhere.</p><p>“I kept finding all these different volunteer groups and they’re like, ‘We don’t know what to do. We don’t get information from resettlement agencies. We’re out of money,’” Moses said. “What I want to do is build that middle ground between that and then encourage and improve relationships and resources on the bottom and improve gaps that the resettlement agencies have.”</p><p>The International Institute of New England, a nonprofit immigrant assistance agency, will welcome an estimated 120 refugees between October 2022 and September 2023, Lowell Managing Director Caroline Rowe <a href="https://www.lowellsun.com/2023/05/14/chelmsford-high-student-afghan-refugee-awaits-reunification-with-family-after-two-years-apart/">told</a> The Sun in May. The organization resettled 236 Afghans last year, and Moses said about 3,000 Afghans refugees reside in Massachusetts.</p><p>Specific numbers, however, are hard to come by — Moses said there’s “no visibility” into where and how many Afghans there are in the area, which means they’re often unable to offer support. Through Mass. Afghan Alliance, Moses hopes to track more data around local Afghan populations.</p><p>Moses mentioned Zubair Sadat, a Chelmsford High School student who <a href="https://www.lowellsun.com/2023/05/14/chelmsford-high-student-afghan-refugee-awaits-reunification-with-family-after-two-years-apart/">fled</a> from Kabul in 2021 and is still waiting for his family to join him. Like Zubair, an unaccompanied minor, often only one or two refugees will come to the U.S. together, leaving behind large families that the resettlement agencies don't necessarily know about. That puts a burden on local advocates to help in reunification cases, as well as find appropriate accommodations.</p><p>“What I’m learning is that we don’t know how many Afghans there are in this district at all,” Moses said. “We don’t know how many reunification cases there are, and that has a really long-term downside … You have to prepare for all these people you don’t know are coming and the federal government didn’t tell you.”</p><p>It’s also about resiliency for Afghan refugees, Moses said, and he plans to provide mental health support for those coming to Massachusetts.</p><p>MAA is supported by Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, described as a public policy think tank that provides Moses access to a fundraising network, research assistants and access to other fellows across the country.</p><p>U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Lowell, wrote Moses a letter of support to the Hoover Institution before he was accepted, he said.</p><p>Jorge Morales-Lopez, constituent services advisor for Trahan’s office, will serve as a congressional liaison for MAA. Since the evacuation two summers ago, Morales-Lopez wrote in an email that the organization is making “a coordinated effort” to ensure Afghans secure the safety they need.</p><p>“As any Afghan refugee will tell you, the journey doesn’t end when they finally board the plane to the United States,” Morales-Lopez wrote. “There is a significant need for local, state, federal, nonprofit, and faith-based services to support refugees and their families when they arrive here in the Commonwealth, which is why I’m thankful John and the team at Massachusetts Afghan Alliance is prioritizing wrap-around support for every step of this long, difficult process.”</p><p>Terry Symula, of Harvard, is currently assisting two large families out of a formerly vacant town building. Working with a team of volunteers, Symula — now an adviser for MAA — drives family members to appointments, helps with paying bills and advocates for their needs, most recently in court. They call her “grandmother.”</p><p>Behishta, 17, is the oldest sister in her family of nine — six girls, one boy — who live on the home’s second floor. She recently obtained her driving permit and attends English learning classes three times a week on top of school. Behishta is entering her senior year, and after graduation, she plans on joining Job Corps and later becoming a journalist.</p><p>Finding permanent residence was a challenge. Behishta and her family have lived in Germany, Philadelphia, Texas and Worcester over the last two years, but will stay in Harvard at least until the end of this upcoming school year, in June, when their lease is up.</p><p>Though her sister, Shayesta, 16, calls Harvard “jungle city,” Behishta said she feels a sense of community there. In Afghanistan, young women are not entitled to an education, but here, Behishta said she has hope for her future.</p><p>“I’m so lucky,” she said. “We don’t have this good chance in Afghanistan … They did decide who you want to marry and what age you want to marry, with who, and there’s a lot of people who are married at age 12, 15, 14, which is sad. And my mom, she told me, ‘You can decide anyone you like, you can decide,’ and that made me so happy.”</p><p>Still, the reality of life in Afghanistan hangs above their heads. Their uncle worked with Americans as a contracted employee, but since the Taliban took control, he’s been in hiding.</p><p>“He has a lot of opportunities to come here, and there’s no way to come because the Taliban don’t like him go,” Shayesta said of her uncle. “The airport is locked. There’s no way to go there.”</p><p>Resources for incoming refugees exist in silos, Symula said, so getting support is up to a number of volunteers making lots of phone calls. MAA could help with that, she said.</p><p>“It’s hard to get all the services that they’re entitled to,” Symula said. “You call MassHealth, it’s ‘Push one for Spanish.’ There’s no way to get to somebody that can help you by getting a translator … Sometimes you’re educating the people on the phone about the people that you’re supporting, because they’re not aware.”</p><p>Though Symula’s work is admirable, Moses said she is a special case. Many families are unable to receive that level of care and funding.</p><p>“We want to find better solutions,” Moses said. “It shouldn’t take an extraordinary act from a town and some people in a town.”</p>