Afghan refugees

DEFIANT DREAMS: THE JOURNEY OF AN AFGHAN GIRL WHO RISKED EVERYTHING FOR EDUCATION

By Sola Mahfouz and Malaina Kapoor

 
   

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

October 18,2023 (San Diego) -- Sola Mahfouz, who now lives in the U.S., recounts her life story to Malaina Kapoor, a writer and producer of the nationally syndicated public affairs radio program, In Deep.

The city of Kandahar, where Mahfouz’s family lived, became the site for battles between the Taliban and the government. Born in 1996, just two years after the Taliban’s rise in power, Mahfouz shares how Afghanistan’s women lived in a state of oppression.

The book begins:

I began to grow up the day my mother warned me to stop laughing. She was terrified that even my momentary giggle could bring a strange man to our door, ready to yell, kidnap, or even kill to silence the sounds of a young woman. Don’t dance outside your room, she’d warn me. Don’t sing in the hallways, where the sound can carry. I was eleven years old.


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AMERICANS HELPING AFGHAN REFUGEES

By Mimi Pollack, San Diego Jewish World, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

February 26, 2022 (La Mesa) - Afghan and American cultures are different in many ways, for example, in lifestyle and style of communication. It is always a learning experience when two cultures meet, but learning is good as it can broaden your life.


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VOLUNTEERS AND AGENCIES WELCOME AFGHAN REFUGEES IN EL CAJON, BUT MORE HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED

By Elijah McKee

Photo, left: Jill Galante and Peggy Han, volunteers with El Cajon Helping Refugees

November 10, 2021 (El Cajon) — “We regularly, four or five times a day, get messages saying ‘Please, my family is so hungry. Please can you visit,’” said Jill Galante as she scanned the newly assembled single bedroom, now ready for four people.

After just one hour of flurried food stocking, donated furniture assembling and bathroom scrubbing, Galante and a group of volunteers from Helping El Cajon Refugees effectively transformed the bare El Cajon apartment into a welcoming place for Sara, her husband who worked with the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, and their daughters: four-month-old Sana and three-year-old Asra. “We try to make it look like a home,” said Galante.


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SUPERVISORS ADOPT PLANS TO HELP AFGHAN REFUGEES

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of the Pentagon: U.S. troops help evacuate Afghan refugees

October 8, 2021 (San Diego) – San Diego Supervisors voted unanimously this week to adopt a proposal by East County Supervisor Joel Anderson to have the County Office of immigrant and Refugee Affairs work with refugee resettlement agencies to assist with a wave of Afghan refugees arriving in our region. The board also approved Anderson’s plan to ask the federal government to spend part of $9.5 billion in frozen Taliban assets to pay for refugee resettlements.

In addition, Supervisors approved a proposal by Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer to create an Afghan Resettlement Task Force.

With the Taliban takeover of the country, those who helped American troops as translators or in other capacities faced risk of death if they remained, as did women’s rights and human rights advocates. Many fled Afghanistan with few personal possessions.

Anderson stated, “I am thankful that my colleagues recognize the importance of this measure that will ensure San Diego County is ready to welcome these refugees into our communities.” He added that his East County district has a large population of Afghans and others with Middle Eastern heritage.”


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MORE AMERICANS FREED FROM AFGHANISTAN, ISSA’S OFFICE CONFIRMS

San Diego couple, both in their 80s, repeatedly blocked by the Taliban

East County News Service

September 15, 2021 (San Diego) - Congressman Darrell Issa (R-San Diego) announced today that his office has facilitated the release of two more American citizens from Afghanistan. The Congressman’s constituents, a couple in their 80s, are on their way home and have officially left Kabul.


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SEVERAL CAJON VALLEY STUDENTS AND FAMILIES ESCAPE AFGHANISTAN, FATE OF OTHERS UNKNOWN AFTER DEADLY ISIS ATTACKS NEAR AIRPORT

Update August 31, 2021:  One local family with three Children in the Cajon Valley district has been left behind after the U.S. troop withdrawal,  10 News supports. A district spokesperson said they are exploring ways to bring them home.  The other Cajon Valley familes have been safely evacuated and some students are now back in school. 

 

Over 104,000 civilians have been evacuated by U.S. in past 10 days; airlifts continue despite bombings as Biden vows retaliations against ISIS

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of the Pentagon: U.s. Air Force personnel help evacuate Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport on Aug. 24

August 26, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) – After today’s deadly terrorist attacks near the Kabul airport, concerns are heightened over the fate of some Cajon Valley Union School District students and their families. Around two dozen students and their families who traveled to visit relatives became trapped in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, the district announced earlier this week.

Today, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that four of the local families have escaped and two have arrived safely in Southern California. But the whereabouts of five other local families, including 14 children, remains unknown.


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FOUR WAYS TO HELP OUR AFGHAN NEIGHBORS IN SAN DIEGO

Story and photo via International Rescue Committee, San Diego

August 25, 2021 (San Diego) -- The United States has begun a humanitarian evacuation and is relocating a group of Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants to San Diego. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in San Diego is working alongside communities and partners to support Afghans living in San Diego. 


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SHANE HARRIS AND LOCAL AFGHAN LEADERS AS SUPERVISORS TO ADOPT AFGHAN REFUGEE HOUSING ACCOMMODATION PLAN

East County News Service

August 25, 2021 (San Diego) – Shane Harris, a national civil rights leader and president of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates, has proposed a plan for welcoming Afghan refugees to our region. Harris was joined by local Afghan leaders yesterday at a press conference urging San Diego County Supervisors to adopt the Afghan Refugee Housing Accommodation Plan for San Diego County. The proposal comes as the U.S. has evacuated some 70,000 people thus far amid the U.S. troop pullout and Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.


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LAWYERS CLUB URGES U.S. ASSISTANCE FOR AFGHAN WOMEN

Source: Lawyer’s Club

Photo: Creative Commons image-SA via Bing

August 24, 2021 (San Diego) – Lawyers Club of San Diego is calling on Congress to provide immediate support for Afghan women and others who have worked to advance democracy and human rights and who are in grave danger as the United States withdraws its military operations from Afghanistan and the Taliban takes control.


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