Young Yemenis Need Your Help

Kim Kraft is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Our gofundme campaign for the Yemeni students has officially wrapped up, and I am happy to announce that, together, we provided each student $1,349.22 (a breakdown of totals minus fees is below).

Below is a lengthy update, but just as important is this link to a slideshow of thank-you notes from some of the students themselves (if you hover over the screen you should be able to see arrows to go to the next slide).

Here's the link:

https://goo.gl/OIKJIx

What’s next for these students?

Funding and support from the US State Department has officially ended for students in VA and WI. Program support will end for students in WA on June 22.

Nearly all of the students say that they will live with “host families” for various lengths of time until they can find apartments and jobs on their own. Several of these host families are members of this gofundme community.

At least three students have applied to be Resident Advisers at their colleges next year (which comes with free housing in exchange for work).

Students plan to live in WA, DC, IN, FL, and WI for now. Once student will move to Austria to continue his education in medicine there.

Over half of the students have expressed plans to continue their education immediately; the others will focus on finding jobs and saving money or searching for scholarships to go back to school in the future.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has been extended for Yemeni nationals in the U.S. until September 3, 2018. The students have applied for TPS and Employment Authorization. Several have received confirmation, others are still pending. Some students have also applied for asylum (in addition to TPS).

Of course, this weekend’s news of an arms deal with Saudi Arabia raises more humanitarian concerns related to the war in Yemen. Yemen also remains one of the countries on Trump’s travel ban.

The students know from your donations and your kind words that they are in your hearts, and we all wish the best for them. I will continue to provide occasional updates and news of their journey as it unfolds.

Feel free to contact us at [email redacted]