by Catherine Ribnick and Linda Rosen
We continue to support the Noori family, as the end of Temple Sinai’s sponsorship is less than three months from now. We have concerns about the inadequacy of Noori’s current limited employment to support his family and continue to urge him to seek more remunerative jobs.
Recently, the family had the opportunity to tour the White House, courtesy of Representative Jamie Raskin, a member of Temple Sinai. By all accounts, it was a successful adventure. The father, Noori, was the most excited about the outing. He had spent many hours while in Afghanistan watching broadcasts from the White House, imagining where the videographer (his profession) needed to stand. He offered us his own side tour showing us these ‘best spots.’ At his request, we took many photos of him in these ideal positions. Clearly, he dreams of doing videography in the White House one day. The older daughter also announced that she would work at the White House eventually! Not surprisingly, the two boys were underwhelmed with the White House China collection. But other than some disappointment at not seeing President Biden himself, the tour was a great success.
With the help of many of you, we recently had the opportunity to outfit the apartment in P.G. County of newly arrived Raz Mohammad, his wife and two children. Raz is the brother of Khan Mohammad, a long-time friend of ours. We set up an appointment for the family with Solutions for Hometown Connections, a refugee support organization, that arranged for Raz to start the process for registering his eight-year-old for school.
The assistance we provided Raz and his family is emblematic of a shift of focus in our refugee support efforts going forward. With so much need that must be addressed amongst refugees in the DMV, we are pivoting away from the sponsorship of individual families in order to deploy our resources, financial and volunteer, to reach a broader population. Thus, we will focus on what we will call defined, short-term projects, and to this end we will liaise with groups like Solutions for Hometown Connections (“SHC”) and Women for Afghan Women, that have direct information on ad hoc needs as they arise. We have previously reported on the assistance we provided to WAW thus far and have recently agreed to be a sponsor of SHC’s “Friendsgiving” on November 18, a holiday celebration for its clients.
Examples of some of the categories in which SHC is looking for volunteer assistance include:
A Shift in Focus
Child Development and Education Advocate: Assist families who need to apply for services like an Early Intervention Assessment or additional support from their child’s school.
Job Search and Interview Coach: Help job seekers revise and format their resume, practice for interviews, and access job search websites and in-person resource centers.
Driving/Transportation Assistance: Work with an individual to study for and take the computer-based knowledge test to obtain a learner’s permit, and/or help a family learn to take public transportation.
Dental Health Advocate: Help families understand and access the lower-cost dental options that may be available to them in the DMV area.
SHC has substantial resources and information to assist volunteers in these areas.
Other organizations, such as HIAS, will also be referring “defined projects” to us.
With such a generous community – you filled the wish list for Raz’ family in 2 days! – we look forward to improving the situation of many newcomers that need a helping hand.