Afghan Refugee Family Saga: Three Strikes - But Not Out

The amazing family of 7 young persons who fled the Taliban and are now our friends here, continues to face challenges and to persevere.

We rejoiced with them 18 months ago when they found a wonderful 4 bedroom home to rent at the very good price of $2,100.00 a month. Now the owner has officially announced “I am selling the house.  You have three months to vacate.” So the search is on. A computer site listed a deal: “For rent :3 bedroom stand-alone home with 2 car garage in a desirable neighborhood.” The eldest, S, replied via email and then phone. It got better. The rent is only $900.00 a month. Then it got even \better: Utilities included. Then it got suspicious: the house interior could be viewed only after a $2,900.00 deposit was paid. Keys would be handed over after the by mail deposit was received. More phone calls, more emails, all to the Afghan woman. When I sent an email, made numerous phone calls there was no response. I explained  to her, “This is a scam! Do not send any money to the suggested Texas mailing address.” The owner had not responded to me but was  very persistent in calling the Afghan woman saying,  “Just send the money. Keep the house clean. Trust me.  I am a very religious and righteous person.” I finally convinced my friend to forget it. She cannot afford sending a check for $2,900.00 to a Texas address to rent a house from a guy she has never met, who won’t let her see the house and can’t explain why he is renting his place at well less than half of the going rate. I am convinced we dodged a scam.

I missed seeing the eldest son “A”. I was told, “Oh, we forgot to tell you. He is back in Pakistan. He is there for two reasons: 1. He wants to get married to an Afghan woman whom he met at the immigration center in Islamabad which helped the family get asylum status in the USA.” The second reason: “He has found a way to contact the smuggler who got our family our of Afghanistan. However, in the process our 5year old sister disappeared”. Now “A” wants to make contact with that smuggler and see if we can find our missing family member. “A” has now been somewhere in Pakistan but he does not have the money to pay for a phone call back to the States so we don’t really know what’s happening.

With wonderful assistance from a friend of mine who runs several McDonald’s we got work for three of the family members. They are very eager to work, are willing to go to school and work and do anything to  “get ahead”. However time schedules are very complicated. English language skills vary. Work ethics for them range from extreme dedication and hard work to something less than that. But then the reality is that in San Diego (at least at these McDonald’s) 95% of the employees are Hispanic, speak only Spanish at work and look out after their friends and relatives with whom they share work at the same store.  When one of the Afghan young men decided that he was being discriminated against, was never allowed to “work up front’’, spent week after week doing only the lowest and least satisfying work like sweeping the floors and cleaning stoves, he rebelled. He refused to obey an order. He was appropriately fired on the spot. Now all three are out of work.

Meantime the climate in our country has become more challenging. Racial and religious slurs are coming more frequently. Job applications are placed at the bottom of the pile. Yet they and we carry on. There is an unsinkable conviction, “America is the land of opportunity. We are blessed to be here. We are most grateful to all the people who are making great efforts and sacrifices to help us. We are determined to get our citizenship status and make a contribution to this country and to those who are supporting us. With God’s help we will not only survive but we will prosper.”