Help our Afghan refugees

Dear Friends,

I am housing a young woman Afghan refugee in Rockridge. She is frightened and alone, and her family of 6 is relying on her to begin new lives in the USA. Here is her story as I understand it.

 

About 10 days ago I accepted a young 22 year old female Afghan refugee via the IRC to stay in the studio through Airbnb.org (free housing site). She has been in the USA 4 months and has a job at Macy's in a mall in San Leandro, she works long hours, so I met her for the first time only two days ago.

 

I just listened to her story as she told it with no prompting from me, and it is a heartbreaker. This is the same story we Americans heard on the news when the airlift was happening in August. She worked for the US Embassy from 18 as an interpreter after learning English at one year in University in Kabul . Four years later she has been dropped in the USA to figure out the rest of her life, and her family's lives which she feels she has put at risk. Her parents remain in hiding in Kabul. They are old, and attempted to go to the Kabul airport during the airlift but a bomb went off nearby and that was too traumatic .

 

Her Marine supervisor got her 3 sisters out, they are in a camp in Texas, which is being closed down in 2 weeks - too cold and they are in tents. They are 17, 25 and 28. They will be flown here, and she has no idea how she will support them on her $16 per hour pay, they don't speak English. Her parents and little brother are in hiding in Afghanistan, neighbors are being disappeared. They don't have passports and no way of getting one. They are on the Priority 2 list for evacuation to the USA.

 

Kristen Brooks and I are trying to enfold her in support, she is just a child herself and so much responsibility. She is terribly scared and depressed about her situation. We are taking her sisters in when they arrive from the base on Dec 15th.

 

What is clear is that stable housing is a priority, and we all know how difficult that is to find. We are fundraising for 12 months of rent so they can figure out their next steps in a safe environment.

 

Thank you all for reading, and for your generosity in this season of giving. This is a truly impactful donation.

Emily & Kristen

 

For GoFundMe Admin:

 

1. Who you are and where you are from: Emily Castelli from Berkeley, CA

 

2. Your relationship to the parties you're raising funds for: I am providing temporary housing for them, and helping navigate US systems as necessary.

 

3. Your plan to send the funds to the intended recipients, and their names: I will send funds to her Wells Fargo bank account  or I will negotiate sending funds to a Landlord directly for rent.

 

4. How the funds will be spent (be specific as possible): Rent/housing primarily, and if there is any left over it will go toward miscellaneous living expenses such as transportation, medical and food as Mahjabin sees fit.