Afghan refugees in Asheville receive tutoring in English and work together to reinforce their classroom learning. (Photo provided by Erik Iverson)CHARLOTTE — Accompanied by his wife and four children, a man who assisted the U.S. Army in Afghanistan recently stepped into a new home in Charlotte. Relief, then joy, spread across their faces as they looked around at the fully furnished space and refrigerator stocked with culturally appropriate food. A stuffed bunny and other toys lay nearby.
One of his daughters ran excitedly into a bedroom and flopped on the bed, resisting the urge to jump on it. Instead, she bounced up and down a little, smiled and clapped her hands.
The family is among more than 200 Afghan refugees who have been resettled in Charlotte and Asheville since October – finding safety and freedom with new lives in North Carolina – thanks to Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, community partners and people of goodwill.
“Charlotte and Asheville have really embraced the Afghan evacuees fleeing their war-torn country to start new lives in North Carolina,” said Sandy Buck, who oversees Catholic Charities’ refugee resettlement program. “They’re offering all kinds of assistance from housing and furniture, to jobs, to food and supplies. We couldn’t do what we do to resettle these families without their support.”
Catholic Charities has resettled more than 14,000 refugees fleeing war, political upheaval, or religious, economic or ethnic persecution since 1975, working in partnership with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the U.S. State Department. And in an emergency federal program launched this fall, Catholic Charities and other resettlement agencies across the United States also began assisting allied Afghans whose lives were placed in danger after Western troops left Afghanistan in August.
Most evacuees fled with few belongings and little time to prepare. In fact, the first Afghan family’s arrival in Charlotte was delayed because a baby came, and at least one other child among North Carolina’s evacuees has already been born on U.S. soil. Most have left behind loved ones in dangerous circumstances, so the evacuees’ identities are being withheld to protect their loved ones’ safety.
The newly-arrived father of four worked in intelligence in Special Operations with the U.S. Army for the past 15 years. He said he is grateful he was able to escape with his wife, two young daughters and two young sons, but he fears for his remaining family still in Afghanistan.
“Unfortunately, the situation became bad,” he said, speaking with the Catholic News Herald. “Taliban were killing the people every day. It was danger for me to stay there because I worked a lot with the U.S. It was not a good place for me to live.”
He tried to bring along his brother, a pilot, with him to the airport when they left Afghanistan, but the attempt was unsuccessful. He still hopes to help bring him to the United States once he is settled here.
“All of my family is at risk, 100 percent,” he said.
Getting to North Carolina wasn’t easy, he recounted. Thanks to help from an American advisor, he and his family made it onto a flight out of Afghanistan, then took several flights through different countries before finally arriving in Philadelphia. They were screened and quarantined for weeks under federal protocols there and later in New Mexico, before being told they would be settled in Charlotte.
“We are thankful for the people who have helped us, and we are thankful for the U.S. government who are helping the Afghan people,” he said. “Right now, I am at my new home, thanks to all the people who help me. I am happy right now.”
So far Catholic Charities has resettled 218 Afghans – 180 in Charlotte and 38 in Asheville.
Another two dozen are expected in the coming weeks, program director Buck says.
Afghan evacuees are receiving individualized help to start new lives in the United States – including housing assistance, job training, counseling help, school registration, health care referrals, community and cultural orientation, budgeting and financial education, interpretation services, referrals to English classes, and more.
As with other refugees Catholic Charities serves, the goal is to help them get established so they can become independent residents of their community.
Buck and Noele Aabye, who is managing the resettlements in Asheville, said their hearts have been touched by these evacuees – people who have left behind everything they knew and the country they loved. In the scramble for safety, a number of men have been separated from their wives and children, and Aabye notes, remain afraid for their loved ones’ safety under Taliban rule, as they desperately work through bureaucracies to bring them here.
Aabye said she is seeing firsthand how the stress of separation is impacting the refugees. Connecting with extended family or fellow Afghan immigrants in the community can help ease the transition.
One Afghan man she has been assisting was forced to leave his own family behind, but he has been able to reunite with extended family here.
“This father and his adult son were separated from their families. I was able to help reunite them with another older son who was evacuated to another military base,” Aabye said. “It was a very special night seeing the man, his wife and their kids, be reunited with his dad and little brother. It felt like it was Christmas to them.”
“It’s definitely been a highlight of my work and the work of resettling Afghan evacuees,” she said. “Watching this man hold one of his grandchildren and seeing the joy is unlike anything I had seen in my work with him.”
Buck and Aabye are also overwhelmed by the generous community support shown to these Afghan evacuees.
In Charlotte, a number of churches and community partners such as Veterans Bridge Home are helping with grocery shopping since refugees don’t yet have transportation or driver’s licenses. Veterans Bridge Home hopes to develop a “buddy system” going forward where veterans accompany the refugees to assist and acclimate them in buying groceries, Buck said.
In Asheville numerous churches, businesses and people have reached out to help, Aabye said.
One such resident is Mark Capon, who co-owns the popular Harvest Records in West Asheville. Deeply touched when he saw images of Afghans fleeing Taliban rule last August, he set up a GoFundMe page to help support the refugees coming to Asheville through Catholic Charities.
“Many of these folks left Afghanistan under extreme duress, and they have been assigned to WNC without familiarity with the area, existing community ties, knowledge of English, many possessions, or financial resources. They’re also all currently in a limbo of red tape,” Capon noted in asking for donations. The money will “be used in collaboration with Catholic Charities Asheville for costs like rent, transportation, food, clothing and supplies, medical care, English education, and so on before they’re able to find work.”
The Go Fund Me page, “Asheville Welcomes Afghans,” has surpassed its goal – raising $30,630 as of Dec. 15.
Donations of any amount are welcome to help cover expenses for the new arrivals. Although the federal government provides a minimal resettlement stipend, much of the cost to resettle the refugees falls on Catholic Charities to provide, Buck explained.
“We also need volunteers who can help drive refugees to appointments, or to grocery shop, and to provide back-office administrative assistance,” she said.
“People are using their own connections or abilities,” Aabye added. “We’ve been able to care for them well, and hopefully have them feel that the community is here to help them put down roots. It makes me proud to live here.”
The Afghan man newly settled into his home in Charlotte said he looks forward to his children going to school and having more opportunities in America, adding that he would like one of his daughters to grow up to be a doctor.
“I feel good now. I see a lot of things, changes in my life. Good changes.”
— SueAnn Howell and Kimberly Bender, Catholic News Herald
How you can help
Most critical is the need for hundreds of independent and affordable rental homes and apartments in Charlotte and Asheville, for which Catholic Charities provides flexible terms and reliable lease payments. Catholic Charities also encourages financial donations and family sponsorship to aid its refugee resettlement work.
Contributions can be made securely online at www.ccdoc.org or mailed to Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, 1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, N.C. 28203.
Donations of furniture and household items, as well as volunteers to pick up donations and help set up apartments, are also welcome. For inquiries, call 1-800-227-7261 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..