The Afghan Refugee Crisis
Exploring the international and local implications of Afghan refugees fleeing their homeland
—By Izzi Nguyen
For more than 40 years, more than 6 million Afghan men, women, children, and people have fled from their homeland due to imminent threats of violence, poverty, strife, and human rights violations. The Afghanistan refugee crisis—infamously known as “one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world”—has forced the Afghan people to seek refuge primarily in the neighboring countries of Pakistan and Iran, but some have even gone as far as the United States in order to escape the volatile state of their beloved country.
To this day, the number of Afghan refugees continues to rise as political instability within the country has yet to be resolved. Generations of Afghan children are born displaced from their homeland and have grown up amidst violent turmoil. However, in recent years, public awareness has grown around the Afghan refugee crisis, giving many families a second chance at life.
The history of the Afghanistan refugee crisis
This history of this intergenerational crisis is characterized by the constant and deadly fight for power in Afghanistan. It began with a communist coup in 1978 which saw members of People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), a left-wing organization, take control of the country from President Mohammad Daoud Khan.
However, the PDPA was not in power long before the Soviet Union—which had previously retained international relations with Afghanistan—invaded the country and attempted to assume power. Ultimately the mujahideen, an armed group of resistance guerilla fighters, put an end to this invasion, but, by then, number of Afghans refugees was already up to 5 million.
Around the same time, the Taliban, a fundamentalist Islamic group, was beginning to rise in popularity and eventually took control of Afghanistan. Under their reign, they conducted public executions, stripped the rights of women, and failed to provide economic, political, and food security. As a result, younger Afghan generations began fleeing their homeland to escape this tyranny.
Even though the Taliban regime would collapse during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the group would return to power 20 years later.
Afghan refugee camps
In order to escape the country’s vicious cycle of violence and instability, the Afghan people have historically fled to the neighboring countries of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Iran to seek relief. Many of these refugees have previously been placed into or continue to reside in refugee camps within these countries which are meant to provide short-term services, long-term services, and uphold the rights of refugees.
However, despite these protections, the Afghan people residing in these camps have repeatedly reported unjust violations of their fundamental human rights. They have been denied access to the services of education and work, routinely face instances of violence and discrimination by members of the host country, and received multiple threats of deportation back to Afghanistan with some even coerced by police officials to leave “voluntarily.”
Giving back the power
“There is this generational repetition of violence,” Dr. Serena Chaudhry, clinical director of the Early Psychosis Intervention Clinic–New Orleans, says when prompted about the mistreatment of refugees, specifically within these camps. “There have been generations that have endured this.”
During her years in graduate school at U of M, Dr. Chaudhry completed an internship at the New Jalozai refugee camp near the border of Afghanistan. Before traveling, she had hopes of implementing a photovoice project that would help depict the lives of the Afghan refugees residing in these refugee camps, specifically the conditions of their health, from their own perspective using disposable point-and-shoot cameras.
Dr. Chaudhry and Walkman, her cultural and linguistic translator, were ultimately successful in their ventures and by the end of the project, they were able to reveal the hard truths about the living conditions in the camp. According to the pictures, there were documented cases of malnutrition, insufficient sanitation measures, health maladies, high risk of disease transmission, and sparse natural areas to enjoy. “These photos exhibit momentum because of the urgency and tragedy,” she says.
This project helped spread awareness about the lives of the Afghani people in these camps in a way that Dr. Chaudhry is still proud to remember. “[The project] helped in this initial sharing of perspectives of the Afghani people,” she says. “I chose to believe that this project has given back to the community and given a voice to those who’ve gone unheard.”
The reception and placement of refugees
Over this forty year period of displacement, limited access to resources has left many refugees displaced in foreign countries and forced to reside in unsafe refugee camps. However, increased awareness of the Afghan refugee crisis has brought some instances of international relief. Last year, over 78,000 Afghans were evacuated by the U.S. government through Operation Allies Welcome following the withdrawal of all the country’s troops from Afghanistan.
Even though the operation has since ended, refugees are still able to enter the country through the U.S Refugee Admissions Program: Reception and Placement (R&P). “All refugees enter with this program,” Dr. Odessa Gonzalez Benson, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, explains in a webinar on the Afghan refugee crisis, “The main thrust is employment and case management towards employment.”
While this type of program is integral for the reception of refugees, Dr. Gonzalez Benson takes issue with the specific R&P program in place now, specifically its failure to prioritize the needs of incoming refugees and provide an adequate support system.
“I don’t know anyone here,” Hasibullah Hasrat—a young Afghan refugee who had been evacuated under Operation Allies Welcome—speaks of the crippling isolation he’s experienced since arriving in the U.S. in an interview conducted by the Associated Press. “I have no friends, no family, no relatives.”
“Integration is nowhere in the Refugee Act,” Dr. Gonzalez Benson admits regrettably in that same webinar; “[the refugees] have eight months to be self-sufficient.”
The arrival of Afghan refugees to Michigan
The aforementioned R&P program recently relocated about 1,700 Afghan refugees to Michigan with the help of local resettlement agencies such as St. Vincent Catholic Charities Refugee Services, Bethany Christian Services, and Samaritas. Upon their arrival earlier this year, Afghan families and individuals were provided with temporary housing, medical evaluations, health insurance, and access to food and water.
Not even a full year later, it was reported that the majority of these Afghan refugees have been able to secure permanent housing as well as employment opportunities. “More than 80% who are employable are in full-time jobs,” Mihaela Mitrofan, an official with Samaritas, reports in an interview with Bridge Michigan.
“I know that I have a big opportunity here,” Mohammad Amin Haidary, a young Afghan refugee who is currently in the process of seeking asylum, says in that same interview. Since his recent relocation to Grand Rapids, he’s been able to secure both an apartment and a job as an project engineer with the collective help of the community.
The support of the community
Nationwide, the public supported the reception of Afghan refugees into the country with 81% of Americans believing that the “U.S. should help its Afghan allies come to the country” and this same sentiment was shared by communities all over Michigan.
In anticipation of the arrival of Afghan refugees to Michigan, Governor Whitmer, the Office of Global Michigan, and the Michigan Community Service commission created the Afghan Arrivals site, which identifies specific volunteer opportunities that help support refugees through their transition as well as Michigan-based organizations that accept goods and financial donations on the behalf of the local Afghan refugee population.
In accordance with this same mission, Pilar’s Tamales, a family-owned Salvadoran restaurant, held a fundraiser to cover costs associated with the placement of Afghan refugees in Ann Arbor. The restaurant sold tamales and accepted general donations online, donating the proceeds to the Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County, a local resettlement agency. In an interview conducted by MLive, Slyvia Nolasco-Rivers, the owner of Pilar’s Tamales, cited her own experience as a refugee as motivation for this project. Grateful for all the support she received when she arrived in the U.S. from El Salvador, Nolasco-Rivers felt the need to give back to the community.
The support of the student body
On-campus student organizations, who’ve seldom been strangers to issues of social justice, wasted no time in implementing their own assistance programs for the local Afghan refugee community either. In particular, two student-led organizations lead the pack. End the Cycle (ETC)—which addresses the educational inequity within the Michigan education system and offers local education services—and Michigan Refugee Assistance Program (MRAP)—which advocates for the support, rights, and awareness of refugees at the local and global level—joined forces to create a program that met a specific need within the community.
“We knew there was a gap in English education,” Rija Awan, current president of ETC and co-president of MRAP, says of the motivation to create the ETC x MRAP English Tutoring and American Culture Program, a student-led tutoring program specializing in providing educational services within the local refugee community, specifically Afghan refugees.
The program itself consisted of 20 student volunteers who were each paired with an Afghan family or individual and conducted virtual lessons over WhatsApp and Zoom. While the program advertised conversational English lessons and studies on American culture, each lesson was subjective to the specific needs of each family. “There were ten solid English lessons,” Awan explains, “but it was based on what families tell [the tutors].”
Awan goes on to list all the different requests that she had received from families concerning the content of these lessons. Some families wanted to learn simple introductory greetings, others wanted to learn the customs of grocery shopping, while others wanted help workshopping their resumes.
This freedom allowed for tutors—such as U-M sophomore Ellie White—to better meet the specific needs of their tutees and individualize the lessons based on request. “I didn’t follow the curriculum,” White recalls of her lessons, “I focused more on language rather than on American standards.” In order to do this, she says, she would make weekly quizlets with common English words and send links to free online games as a more enjoyable way to remember the vocab.
White had worked primarily with a young Afghan man and occasionally, his wife over the course of the program. The couple had relocated from Afghanistan to Ypsilanti and lived in an apartment with their kids. While White had maintained a relationship with their family for the entirety of the past Winter semester, they rarely spoke of their experiences in Afghanistan.
“It was back in February, I don’t remember how it came up,” White says of her conversation with the husband during one of the lessons, “he mentioned how bad the government was in Afghanistan and that his brothers and mother were still over there.” He talked about how controlling and dangerous it was in Afghanistan, she says.
Although these lessons are not officially running now, Awan has plans to restructure the program in the near future and White says she will be joining her. “A lot of the families expressed their gratitude constantly,” Awan says, speaking on the importance of this program, “they were comfortable going out and speaking. They felt confidence in themselves.”
What can we do?
For college students and the newly employed, it’s hard to dedicate enough time to be a long-term volunteer, so Awan suggests getting involved with groups on campus such as MRAP and ETC who have a direct connection to refugees and if anything, to donate. “Donations are really big right now,” she says, “we take the donations and distribute them to the families.”
With the help of ETC and MRAP, Awan is in the preliminary stages of organizing a laptop fundraiser as well as a clothing drive to address the more physical needs of refugees. She encourages U of M students to keep an eye out for both of these fundraisers and any like it in Mason Hall, a common tabling area for fundraisers at the university.
For those with more flexible schedules, Awan encourages long-term volunteering with the families themselves. She specifically suggests looking into the volunteer opportunities with Jewish Family Services and Samaritas which are also linked in Whitmer’s Afghan Arrival Site.
When asked specifically about their motivation towards this type of service and volunteer work, Dr. Chaudhry, White, and Awan all unanimously agreed that it was the people that kept them going. Each was able to recognize their own privilege in the situation and focused solely on giving back to these marginalized communities.
“I want to show them that they can go to sleep at night and know that there is someone who will help them have a good quality of life,” White says, “so they don’t feel alone.”
Feature photo, Reality Slap; photo credit, Rostyslav Savchyn, Unsplash