Helping Refugee Families from Afghanistan

Dear friends and family,

We are parents of children at Lee Elementary School in Austin, Texas. In the spring of 2021, our school welcomed 51 children whose 16 families fled Afghanistan after the U.S. exited the country and the Taliban re-took control in 2021. They left their entire lives behind in search of a safer and better life for their children. With government support dwindling, these families desperately need our help as they continue to transition to this new and very different life.

As we have gotten to know the families and children better, we are seeing the depth of trauma they are still processing. We are starting to understand better the enormously difficult transition these families have gone through. Some were in hiding in Afghanistan. One man and his son were separated from his wife and two older sons at the Kabul airport and still have not been reunited. And all of them face the harsh realities of being a recent refugee, where something as simple as booking a doctor’s appointment can take hours (even with a translator and advocate).

These Afghan families are working tirelessly to start new lives and careers and give their children a better life. After much research into community support and consultation with the Refugee Center of Texas, AISD, and a local Mosque, we identified a gap in services around dental care. At the same time, the parents and older siblings of Lee students were experiencing terrible dental pain and asked for help with this.

Medicaid does not pay for dental care after 21 years of age. So, we have partnered with Manos de Cristo for reduced-cost dental services for 19 adults. We have treatment plans for 15 of these people, and their total cost is over $37,000, given the severity of their dental issues. Therefore, we increased our goal to $30,000 to cover the minimum care required for all people to have mouths free of infection and pain. 100 percent of the funding goes to services and goods for the families.

Regarding volunteer efforts, our focus is on providing ESL classes for moms, making and providing transportation to medical/dental appointments, and connecting families to local support (in particular, employment, education, mental health, and recreational opportunities).

We would love your continued financial or volunteer support as we continue to help these wonderful families. Please text Jamie if you’d like to volunteer five-one-two-threehundred-fourteen-eightyeight.

Thank you,

Jamie Gardner and Carolyn Merriman

FUNDING DISTRIBUTION TO DATE

* $930 for initial exams and x-rays for 14 people

* $650 for tooth extractions for four people

* $285 for fillings for two people

* $17.85 for prescriptions for two people

Total to Date: $ 3,885

REMAINING FUNDS TO GO TO DENTAL CARE, WITH MINIMAL CARE ESTIMATED TO TOTAL $30,000 AND FULL TREATMENT ESTIMATED TO EXCEED $37,000.

Note: Obtaining appointments can be slow at Manos de Cristo given the high demand for low-cost dental care. As a result, fund distribution has been slow. While waiting for appointments, we are pursuing free dental treatment for our friends.