SATURDAY STORY - DECEMBER 25, 2021 REFUGEES FROM AFGHANISTAN - PART II

 SATURDAY STORY - DECEMBER 25, 2021 REFUGEES FROM AFGHANISTAN

CHRISTMAS IN A NEW LAND AND A NEW CULTURE

Last week I started a story on refugees from Afghanistan.  It is largely based on this report:

From KUT, Austin Public Radio:
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Refugee Services of Texas expects nearly 200 Afghan refugees to be resettled in the Austin area by the end of next month.

The organization has already welcomed 35 people to Austin in the past few weeks, mostly Special Immigrant Visa holders and their families who are fleeing Afghanistan in the fallout of the U.S. military's withdrawal from the country.

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BUT - the writing is all mine - and it is fiction.

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Farzana was one of the refugees from Afghanistan.  She had been a translator from English into Farsi for the American forces working against the Taliban.  She knew she would be killed if she stayed in Kabul and thus opted to be relocated to the United States and in particular to Austin Texas.

Her job was as a translator for Afghan children in Anne Myers Elementary School.  They were cross-taught with Miriam Novak, an American teacher who had worked with international students before, and then with Farzana who helped with the translation.  

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Farzana (and others of the immigrants) learned how to catch a Cap-Metro bus.  With their broken English, they also carried index cards of which route to take and where to get off.  They would hand this to the bus driver as they got on.  Farzana missed her exit once and had to walk back a few blocks.

The Austin School District and Refugee Alliance had allowed Farana to ride the school bus so as to pass on information to the children in their native language.  There were a few new Afghan refugees every week during the fall semester.  She loved her job and was learning how to teach, and translate fully.  

But, on two separate occasions, disaster was just around the corner.

Farzana was in HEB grocery shopping.  It was hard as some ingredients were not allowed or known by different names in traditional Islamic recipes. She had to read the ingredients and some names were not in her English vocabulary yet.  She was in the tomato products aisle and a man with a gruff beard told her to get out of his way.  “Go back to your country, and leave us alone.  We don’t need your people here.  <f> you”.  He was very obnoxious and hateful.  

The second time was in the evening as she took a walk in her neighborhood.  A younger man came up to her.  Farzana could smell the liquor on his breath.  He grabbed her and was trying to push her down behind some bushes and was tearing her clothes off.  “I’m going to <f> you bitch.” She screamed “HELP”. The man slapped his hand over her mouth, and she managed to thrust her knee into his groin - hard.  She broke his hold and ran away as the man yelled after her “I’m going to get you, you little foreign bitch.”  Quickly she got away into the parking lot where a couple was getting out of a car.

“I need to stand next to you”, she said to the couple.  

The man said, “Here - stand between us”.  He could see her torn clothes and guessed at what had happened.  “Where do you live?” he asked.

Farzana indicated where she lived.  The couple walked with her around the block and couldn’t see the man.  The lady had called 911 and a squad car was there in a few minutes and might have frightened the man away.  

Farzana hoped that the man didn’t follow them, and wouldn’t see where she lived.

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Other refugees reported similar things - being yelled at, spit upon, pushed.  But, there were good people in the area too.  The refugees had been adopted by some of the Christian Churches in the area - and brought them food and some took them shopping and helped them.  Churches in the Austin area have helped them.

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Even with the turmoil back in Afghanistan, the refugees missed their homeland, their families - some of which died by the Taliban’s hands, others laying low, and others in custody.  How can they celebrate Christmas - a decidedly Christian season that was a major holiday in a new land?  Could they leave their own faith?  Could they find a way to celebrate the secular side of Christmas - as they were learning many Americans did?  

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Starting on December 20th, there were food, clothes, and toy distributions to the refugee housing.  An effort coordinated by Refugee Services backed by donors, and churches, was trying to make Christmas merry and bright for the refugees, and make them feel welcome in their new country.

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Okay, readers - I’ll stop there.  There are many refugees in the United States - legal immigrants from Afghanistan and other places, illegal immigrants who have crossed the border.  There are others that are hurting this year, circumstances beyond their control have cut their incomes to almost nothing.  There are others that might be making it financially, but have been brushed aside to the backwaters of American society and need friends, need hugs, need to feel wanted.

Maybe YOU - can find a way to help those in need at Christmas and at other times of the year.

LOVE WINS!!

Karen