Celebrating Afghan Refugees, helping Fatima.

My name is Sharon Hwang, and for the past year, I have worked with three local synagogues to form sponsor circles through HIAS, a Jewish Resettlement Organization. Over the past year, with many volunteers and help, Rodef Shalom, Kabbalah Experience, and The Hebrew Educational Alliance have successfully resettled three Afghan families in Colorado.

I was called into this work as a volunteer and continue volunteering my time to help these refugees. Here is a little about my story.

The work continues. Anna with Team America learned of Aziza Akbari. Aziza is an educated Hazara woman, which makes her doubly persecuted and at risk under Taliban rule. After 13 days of squatting without any shelter, food or water at the Pakistan border (all of their paperwork was destroyed). Through a stroke of luck, Aziza and her family were able to enter Pakistan and have existed there for the past year. With no paperwork or means to make money; they are barely subsisting. Aziza ran a nonprofit in Afghanistan that empowered women and children. She has been desperately trying to get her and her family out of Pakistan for the past year. To come to America, she needed a "sponsor," and Anna stepped up. Click here to learn more about Aziza's story. With Anna as her sponsor, Aziza was granted Humanitarian Parole due to the elevated risk she faces in Afghanistan for her education and ethnicity.

With Aziza's introduction, I met 2 other Hazara women, Amena and Fatima. Fatima has been separated from her husband, as he was detained by ICE at the border and is now in jail in Louisana. Fatima is in Denver trying to navigate the complicated US legal system to help get her husband released, with no financial resources.

Amena, while single is still looking for a stable job. Unfortunately, her resettlement agency has stopped all financial support, so she has been struggling to meet her expensive monthly rent for her apartment in Aurora.

The stories go on and on, and we certainly can't help everyone. I have a soft spot for these courageous women. Any funds that are raised go directly towards helping these Afghan women, through rent and utility assistance, and legal assistance.