Thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on the first three families HARRT has sponsored. As we have just been deemed ready to accept another family, it is an exciting time to look back over our progress, made possible in large part by the generosity of the SGC community.
Family 1 arrived January 8, 2022 after fleeing Afghanistan. The family consists of a couple in their 60s and their teenage son. They are living in New Haven with two of their daughters, who preceded them to the United States to study and now work in New Haven. The family is warm and friendly, with the mother continuing to take English classes and the father taking on interpreting jobs (he knows several languages besides English). He would like to get a full time job with benefits which could support his family. In the meantime, over the summer, he was involved in a community garden for refugees within walking distance of his home, where he grew cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and leeks. The cucumbers were so prolific that the neighbors in their apartment complex were the beneficiaries of the fresh produce! Their son has had educational and medical support he would never have been able to get in Afghanistan, and is doing well.
Following the diligent volunteer work of an attorney with no prior experience in immigration law, the family applied for asylum this year. They were notified recently that their application was approved, and they now are on a path to permanent residency and citizenship!
Family 2 arrived April 5, 2022, following a roundabout trip from Afghanistan. This family is comprised of a daughter of the parents from Family 1, her husband, and preschool-age son. They settled in New Haven for approximately a year, with the husband taking English classes and working at Amazon and Medtronics. This spring, they welcomed a new baby, a daughter! Subsequently, they moved to New Hampshire to pursue potential educational opportunities at the university level. Although we have tried to keep in touch, it has been difficult. We do know, however, that their application for asylum was recently approved, and we wish them the very best.
Family 3 arrived from Ukraine on May 7 of this year. This was a different sort of sponsorship, as we had the opportunity to Zoom and correspond with the family prior to their arrival. The family of five includes two parents and three school-age children, who have settled in Hamden. They were able to take advantage of IRIS’s Summer Learning Program for both children and adults, which got them off to a good start being around English speakers. The children have settled in at school, and dad has continued with an online business he had in Ukraine. Mom is trying to establish a dog-walking business, for which HARRT has helped her post flyers in her apartment complex. They are a very engaging and independent family.
Reflecting on the two years since HARRT’s inception makes me realize anew that it truly does take a village. I am privileged to be part of a group of incredibly dedicated, kind and generous men and women, none of whom I would have met had we not joined an IRIS zoom meeting in the fall of 2021 because we wanted to help with the Afghan crisis. Those of us who came together then, to form HARRT, and the awesome new volunteers who joined later, make up a team of which we are all very proud.
Once Spring Glen Church agreed to become HARRT’s fiduciary, we needed to do some fundraising, and SGC jumped into action again. The outpouring of generosity from this community has been overwhelming, and we could not have done it without you.
Many, many thanks from all of us at HARRT.