GIVE HOPE TO AFGHANS IN DANGER!

My name is Marion. I'm a retired nurse and I'm on a mission to help Afghans who are in danger get to a safe country. Not everyone at risk of detainment, kidnapping, torture, and death got out of Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover and the US withdrawal. The ones who are left behind face not only the violence of the new Islamist rulers but starvation, poverty, and misery. Almost all foreign aid has been cut off by Western governments, while the people suffer from hunger and freezing cold weather. Afghanistan has become a land of millions of desperate people, some so hard-pressed to find money to feed their children that they are forced to sell their babies. By the thousands each day, despairing Afghans are undertaking extremely dangerous journeys with people smugglers, trying to reach relative security in Iran or Pakistan.

Here is what I am doing. My efforts are centered on the Humanitarian Parole Program, operated by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. It offers people anywhere in the world a possible way out of a crisis. The application process is long and complicated. A sponsor in the US is required. The fees are high, $575 per person, which is a vast sum for almost all Afghans. The costs are not refunded if the application is denied. If accepted, the applicant could come to the US for a defined period of time, hopefully long enough to work out a way to stay in the US or to find a permanent home is another country where they can live safely.

Currently I am sponsoring three families, a total of 16 people, who are at great risk, and I am in the process of completing applications for two other families. I do the paperwork myself with occasional legal advice from some generous attorneys, and I pay the fees. Even if the families I am assisting have money in a bank in Afghanistan, they are not allowed to withdraw more than $400/week. Just waiting in line at a bank carries risk. Taliban fighters could arrive and check IDs or ISIS-K could decide to set off more bombs. A fee waiver application can be made, but it requires documentation that many Afghans can't provide in the current conditions. And even in the best of circumstances, applying for a fee waiver slows the whole process by months.

Some of those in danger are known to me personally. Through my work in refugee camps in Greece, I have come to know many, many Afghans. All of the young asylum-seekers who worked as interpreters for me have families back in Afghanistan. While their own futures remain uncertain, now they worry that their families will not survive long. One friend's father worked with the US military forces. He's being hunted by the Taliban, marked for death. His five children have also been threatened. They have abandoned their home and all their belongings to seek a safer hiding place in Kabul. Currently all six of them are confined to one bare room and only venture out for food and water.

Another young man is desperately worried about his sisters since all single women are seen as potential wives for Taliban fighters. They could be taken at any time against their will if they are discovered. Yet another friend helped arrange for smugglers to get his family across the border to Pakistan, but as they headed to Islamabad where the nearest US Embassy is located, the police caught them. Like so many trying to flee Afghanistan, they had no passports or visas. The Pakistani police deported them back to Afghanistan, where they now share two rooms with six other families, all their money gone, and all hope almost extinguished.

There are many terrible things going on in this world now. Afghanistan is near the top of the list of tragedies, and the situation worsens daily. We in America can do little to decrease the suffering. But this is one thing we can do. One by one, we can assist some people in horrific situations to have a hope of getting to safety. Please help me to cover the costs of these applications. With your assistance, I can complete more applications as the requests from my friends in need continue to arrive in my inbox.

I believe that someday soon, with your help and generosity, the stars will align, Humanitarian Parole applications will be approved, my friends' families will escape danger in Afghanistan, and some very grateful families will be arriving in America. Your donations can help make this happen.