Help Afghan Mother and Kids Avoid Homelessness

We are a group of volunteers that has been helping empower and support an Afghan refugee mother and her nine wonderful children for several years. The children range in age from 4 to 18. The mother is 35. Despite both the mother and oldest child working, the family’s income is well below the poverty level.

We are using this GoFundMe page to raise urgently needed funds to prevent this family from becoming homeless this summer. Money raised will be used to pay the family’s rent from July 2025 through June 2026. Our goal is to raise $28,000.

Please consider a donation to keep these kids in a stable home with their mom. Any size of one-time or ongoing donation is greatly appreciated.

While our long-term goal is to get this family to be self-sufficient, they currently face the real danger of losing housing, forcing them into a bureaucratic nightmare of splintered services, and creating additional trauma atop the refugee experience and the experience of horrific domestic violence.

We are deeply grateful to our friends, family, and community members who have made donations over the past two years as that has enabled the family to stay together in a home and start learning how to live in a new country.

The family’s current situation

While they have been through some challenging times over the past several years, the family has worked hard to improve their situation.

Their achievements include:

- Mom now has a part-time job as a caregiver for an elderly neighbor. Her paycheck covers some regular expenses. She continues to work on English proficiency through online classes.

- The oldest child has a part-time job to help support the family, but she has one more year of high school remaining so she must balance school with work.

- The family received political asylum in 2024, and we are assisting them on green card applications.

- All nine children speak English well and many are working hard at school. Some of the children continue to struggle with depression and behavioral issues.

- The kids have made friends at school and in the neighborhood. They are eager to try new things when we can find funds and volunteers to help with logistics. Some play soccer, others have tried gymnastics, boxing, and art classes.

Ongoing challenges include:

● Local refugee resettlement non-profits do not have any more funding to support the family. Those NGOs typically only receive federal funds to cover refugees’ first six months in the U.S. The NGO for the family far exceeded the six months and provided rental assistance for nearly two years, until November 2023.

● The county cut the family’s assistance funds when mom got her part-time, low-wage job.

● Mom cannot work full-time because most of the children are still at home after school hours. The three kids in high school and we volunteers help care for their siblings but it's a big job: five of the kids are in elementary school. No one in the family drives.

● Mom’s background and limited education did not prepare her to be a single parent in a foreign country. The mother received a 7th grade education and was married to a much older man at 16 in a small rural town in Afghanistan.

● The children are generally resilient, but some struggle due to the upheaval they’ve experienced fleeing the Taliban, losing their connection to extended family, and living with the trauma of domestic violence.

Every year that we can help these children stay with their mother in stable housing is a victory.

Please consider donating to help this family avoid homelessness. Now, more than ever, the support of caring individuals is critical to helping our most vulnerable neighbors.

More about the family’s background as refugees

Mom and kids are on their own after arriving as legal refugees in the US in 2022. Even though the family has received political asylum, they fear changes in their status by the federal government.

They have been forced to move in the U.S. several times, which has been disruptive to the well-being of the family. In 2022, the mother separated from the abusive husband and she and the nine children were fortunate to be placed in a new home with space for all 10 family members.

The Essential Volunteer Assistance Factor

The DC area is an expensive place to raise a family – even more so for a single parent with nine children, limited English skills, a 7th grade education, a low-wage job, and no way to afford a car. Our small team of (exhausted) volunteers has been providing support that existing organizations cannot offer. Over the past two years, we have:

● Organized donations of food, clothing, and household supplies.

● Facilitated school registrations, home repairs and medical and dental appointments.

● Transported the mom and her children to and from medical appointments, immigration appointments, the mother’s English classes, swimming lessons, preschool and more.

● Educated the mom and her older children about their rights, budgeting and accessing public resources.

● Served as advocates to federal, county, and non-profit agencies to help with green cards and secure poverty assistance.

Protecting the Family’s Privacy

Please understand that to protect the family's privacy, we are not sharing any personally identifying details or photos.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this wonderful family’s situation and help them avoid the nightmare of homelessness! Thank you for ANY financial help that you can provide.