We can gather together
As the situation develops in Afghanistan, nonprofits and volunteers have been working every hour to support from a distance. When it often seems there’s nothing we can do, one seemingly small thing we can do is to gather together.
Afghans and Afghan Americans across the U.S. are feeling sadness, pain, and fear for their families and friends in Afghanistan who are increasingly in danger.
Network member, Elena’s Light, led by Fereshteh Ganjavi does work by and for the Afghan community in New Haven, Connecticut. Elena’s Light shared with their community this week,
“There is an imperative to support those currently being displaced or pursuing asylum status. Please take a moment to check in with your Afghan friends, and be there for them through this terrifying time.”
We know that the direct experience of trauma has profound physical, emotional, and mental impacts both in the moment and afterward. Perhaps, less widely-known, is that the experience of secondary trauma that comes from hearing the experiences of trauma from someone else has its own profound impacts.
For everyone supporting the Afghan community from the U.S. this has been a challenging time. Nonprofit leaders in the Hello Neighbor Network have been on the phone with Afghans who are waiting at the airport for flights that are not coming, working with U.S. military on the ground to attempt to give families a path out, hurridly gathering resources and processing applications for asylum. They are intimately connected to people who are there, many who face direct threats to their lives, some of whom have been attacked and killed. On top of that, grassroots nonprofits are mobilizing their larger communities of volunteers and supporters who are passionate about doing what they can.
With so much on our minds and hearts, a seemingly small thing we can do is gather together. Yesterday, Hello Neighbor convened our leaders across the country to join a small Zoom call to be in community with one another. To share information. To release. To provide words of understanding and empathy. We got the news of the Abbey Gate bombing while on that call.
These discussions are happening in real time, we’re not waiting to gather.
In these days and hours when there are so many limits to what communities across the U.S. can do, we can bear witness to each other.
After the Network call yesterday, Kristen Bloom, Founder of Refugee Assistance Alliance shared,
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say the past couple of weeks have been heavy for everyone around the world, but for those of us in the Hello Neighbor Network it has been especially so. In many ways, situations like the current crisis in Afghanistan is why many of us felt called to start our organizations. It fuels us. We feel energized and honored to lead communities who want to step up and help.
But it is also draining — emotionally, mentally, and physically as we work around the clock to do whatever we can. Being able to gather together yesterday — to listen, to cry, to acknowledge how hard this all is, and to support one another, was incredibly valuable. I am so grateful to be part of such a supportive group, and I could not be more proud of the work each and every single one of these organizations is doing.
If you are a nonprofit leader, volunteer, staff person or otherwise doing what you can right now to support, we will continue to be in community in the midst of crisis. It’s what we can do today and we’ll keep creating these spaces because we know they continue to be needed.
At the Hello Neighbor Network we will also continue to lift up the voices of Afghans and Afghan Americans as they share their experiences and perspectives. And we will provide public, virtual events to share lessons and experiences from Network members out with the broader community. You are welcome to join us there.
The Hello Neighbor Network, powered by Hello Neighbor, is a coalition of grassroots nonprofits working with refugees and immigrants across the U.S. If you are a nonprofit leader who would like to be a part of this community, find more information on how you can join us here.
