Refugees in Philly savor Thanksgiving

PHILADELPHIA — Abdullah Amarkhail left everything behind in his home country of Afghanistan — his family, his friends, his career.

“Even my hope,” the 31-year-old said.

For six months, he’s been living in South Philadelphia, helped by HIAS Pennsylvania, a nonprofit that provides legal and social services and other support to new immigrants and refugees. On Sunday, the organization hosted a potluck Thanksgiving dinner at the Old Pine Community Center in the Society Hill neighborhood for its clients who have come to the United States in the last year.

For many, including Amarkhail, who was enjoying a plate of turkey and fixings, it’s their first Thanksgiving in the United States.

“This is my family now,” Amarkhail said, waving his hand at the dozens of workers and volunteers who were there to celebrate the upcoming holiday with him and others like him. “This is my country. These are my people.”

HIAS Pennsylvania has been hosting the Thanksgiving dinners for close to two decades, said Cathryn Miller-wilson, the group’s executive director. But Sunday’s event was the first time since before the pandemic that HIAS has held the event in person.

“It’s this great kind of final step in the journey to integrating into the United States.” Miller-wilson said of the event. “Everyone that came in the last year comes, breaks bread, learns about this uniquely American holiday, and officially begins their lives in America.”

The dinner came amid two of the biggest immigration events in Philadelphia since the Vietnam War: the permanent resettlement of about 5,000 Afghan evacuees in the region following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the arrival in the last nine months of at least 10,000 Ukrainians who have fled the war in their homeland.