Hello! We are four Seattle families who have joined together to form a Sponsor Circle to support a wonderful Afghan refugee family. The Sponsor Circle Program is a community-led resettlement initiative that helps everyday Americans (like us!) take on the incredible responsibility of welcoming refugees into our community. We are doing this with the support of the International Rescue Committee.

As we all know, Afghans have suffered decades of conflict, natural disasters, chronic poverty, food insecurity, and most recently the Covid-19 pandemic. Then last year the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government and US troops withdrew, leading to further crisis: economic despair and unprecedented hunger, abuse of women and girls including forced child marriage & the deprivation of education, and an ongoing threat by the Taliban to take innocent lives, particularly the lives of those who helped the US troops and US embassy.

The Kohestani family arrived in Seattle in late June, and our Sponsor Circle has had the great fortune of being matched with them to help their resettlement. Twenty-nine year-old Naweed has a marketing and finance degree from Afghanistan, and spent time working as a security guard for the US Embassy in Kabul. He is taking care of his younger siblings: 17-year-old Bashir, 16-year-old Sodaba, and 10-year old Setayesh. Naweed's parents and three siblings remain in Afghanistan; they hope to join the rest of the family someday.

The Kohestani family is very kind, loving, and personable, and we have really enjoyed getting to know them. Thus far, and with the generous help of many of you, we have been able to move them into an apartment and provide them with clothing, furniture, & household goods. We've also connected them to personal English lessons, helped with their documentation, established state benefits & Medicaid, made necessary medical appointments and helped them with vaccinations, acquainted them with the bus system, and helped them set up a bank account.

Next we'll help the Kohestanis start a new school year in a new country (the girls have not been allowed to go to school in some time), help Naweed find a job, and help with legal immigration status.

Importantly, we want to set them up to establish happy, successful, independent lives. To this end, we hope you will help us create a fund they can use for rent assistance and a possible car purchase.

Thank you so much!