Afghan refugees need access to education along with all others
Forty years ago, my mother and father fled Afghanistan after losing family members and friends during the nine-year war with the Soviet Union. My parents had many reasons to fear for their own safety, and escaped across the border to Iran, where my siblings and I were born. But we were refugees, and we didn’t have legal status. That made our lives difficult in many ways. For one thing, I was not able to attend school.
I desperately wanted to learn. One day, my father came home and said there were several children at our mosque in Tehran who wanted to go to school, too. Like me, they could not go because of their status. So instead of attending the school, I taught it. I was 12 years old the day I taught my first class. As a man, my father could not teach a class with both boys and girls. With his guidance, I set up a small classroom for about 10 girls. He and I made a great team, and after a few years, we were helping teach more than 200 students each day.
The education program was still running when I left Iran and found refuge in the United States. I was now married, and my husband and I settled in New Haven, Conn. The Tehran school continued for another year before it was shut down by the government. The students were told they could go to an Iranian school, but the tuition was so high that few could afford it. Devastated by this fate for my friends, I vowed to dedicate my life to making sure that everyone can access an education.
When I first arrived at JFK airport in New York, I knew that I was in my dream country, and would succeed with enough energy, determination and opportunity. I earned my undergraduate degree, then my master’s degree in public health. I became a health care coordinator, assisting new refugees in New Haven. I saw, through my own experience and working with clients, the obstacles facing refugees in the U.S., especially women. Language barriers affect their ability to access opportunities, including employment and education. One woman I met had children with disabilities, but she was unable to communicate with her kids’ teachers and doctors about their education and medical needs.
To help address these obstacles, I founded Elena’s Light, a nonprofit based in Connecticut that provides literacy and health classes, cultural exchange, mutual aid, and awareness for refugees. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing my community come together.
When Afghanistan, my family’s original home, was taken over by the Taliban earlier this year, the need to support Afghan refugees became even more urgent. Desperate families in danger must be given the opportunity to live in peace in the United States, and we are welcoming tens of thousands of Afghan newcomers to our communities, some of whom will become our students. Too many will have no one to welcome or guide them at all.
Americans have an opportunity to change the lives of refugee families, just as my life changed as a refugee two times over. There are so many ways to help: teaching English through a program like mine, or providing housing, job opportunities, cultural orientation or other forms of support.
I am proud to live in a state and a city that has been so welcoming to refugees and is already taking in newly arrived Afghan families. At the U.S. Conference of Mayors in August, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin introduced and passed a resolution pledging support for Afghan refugees. In November, Gov. Ned Lamont called on Connecticut landlords to rent apartments to Afghan families. Messages like these from government officials are essential. But there is so much more that our elected leaders can do.
For instance, the governors of New Jersey and Colorado are taking a “Whole of State Approach,” setting up task forces to make sure resettlement agencies have all the resources they need to help refugee families settle in. These task forces are doing more than just coordinating state services — they are also conducting training for schools to help them prepare for their new Afghan students, working with municipal leaders to provide support.
The federal money for state COVID-19 relief is also creating opportunities. Vermont and Illinois, for example, have used some of this funding to support resettlement services and improve programming for the newly arrived families. Each state can pursue policies so that their schools can better provide for the needs of refugee students.
Together, we have an opportunity to make sure that refugee families like mine are not left to navigate these challenges alone. Every child deserves to feel the way I did when I got off the plane at JFK: ready to start a new life and thrive.
I am proud to live in a state and a city that has been so welcoming to refugees and is already taking in newly arrived Afghan families.