Doubling up on charitable giving
Humanitarian drive aims to help Haitians, Afghans in crises
Houston volunteers and donors responded to not one but two humanitarian crises Saturday: the magnitude 7.2 earthquake earlier this month in Haiti and the still-unfolding U.S. airlift of refugees fleeing Afghanistan.
Cars lined up in the parking lot of the Ismaili Jamatkhana in Sugar Land. From their trunks, volunteers in green Ismaili Civic T-shirts left donations of household items, toiletries, linens, non-perishable food, cleaning supplies and clothing. Some of those things were bound for Haiti; some would go to Afghan refugees newly arrived in the Houston area.
“It’s a lot of stuff,” marveled
Aresha Davwa, who oversees the youth volunteers.
In northwest Houston, at National Association of Christian Churches Disaster Services, volunteers loaded donations onto 18-wheelers. It was the end of a
week-long drive for aid bound to Haiti, a drive promoted by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.
“Oh, my goodness!” said Shirley Laneaut, president of Houston Haitians United, as she surveyed the scene. “Right behind
me is a huge box of toiletries, toothpaste and hand sanitizers. We’ve got cases and cases of water. Vans are rolling in packed over capacity with donations! It’s beautiful.”
Laneaut wasn’t yet sure where in Haiti those donations would go. The need, she noted, is great in many parts in the island nation. In the wake of the shocking assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise, and in the teeth of the global COVID pandemic, the powerful earthquake destroyed 50,000 homes and significantly damaged many more. Roads have been destroyed, and health care facilities disrupted.
“It’s been traumatic for the people of Haiti,” Laneaut noted. “But we’re overwhelmed by this response.”
Household goods from the Ismaili drive would go to a family of six Afghan refugees who ar
rived in the Houston area earlier this week, said Betsy Ballard, director of communications for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
So far this month, Catholic Charities — just one of the nonprofits that resettles refugees in the Houston area — has resettled eight Afghan families. Some fled Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover, said Ballard. Others came after.
“They were all escaping some kind of situation,” she said.
And that, Ballard said, is likely to be just the beginning. The U.S. State Department traditionally allots a large number of refugees to Houston, which is known for its diversity, welcoming attitude, and job-creating economy.
Roughly 50,000 Afghan refugees who worked for U.S. military have applied for Special Immigrant Visas for themselves and their families to resettle in the U.S. But given the shocking speed with which Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, there’s been no time for the usual approval process, which is notorious for years-long delays.
Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston recently estimated that 1,500 to 2,500 of those betwixt-and-between refugees will come to Houston over the next six to nine months.
Resettling refugees isn’t easy in the best of times: Federal support runs out in a matter of weeks — which doesn’t give refugees much time to find a job, learn a new culture and new language, and deal with whatever trauma forced them to flee their homeland.
But for the refugees rushed to the U.S. without full visa approval, even that federal aid isn’t yet available. Nor will they be eligible for government aid for food or medical care. So their resettlement will depend on private donations.
“And it’s not just stuff,” Ballard said. “Cash is really important. It’s almost always the best thing.” In the past week, to help Afghan refugees, Houston-area donors gave Catholic Charities $35,000 via its website, catholiccharities.org/afghanistan/.
“What’s going on in Afghanistan now,” said Ballard, “is heartbreaking.”