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Dear Friend,
After being evacuated from a war zone, Aziz
stepped off a plane and onto U.S. soil with no birth certificate or
government-issued identification and no belongings, asking: “Where am I? What
country is this? Where is my family?”
But
no one in the entire U.S. immigration system knew
what to do with Aziz when he and other unaccompanied children from Afghanistan
first arrived. As a result, Aziz was sent to a government shelter, where
facility staff didn’t speak his language or understand his religious, dietary,
or health needs. Aziz stopped attempting to communicate. After eventually
learning that his entire immediate family had been killed while waiting to
evacuate, he suffered additional emotional
distress and required increased support.
When
facility staff reached out for help, the Young Center immediately recruited and
trained our first Dari-speaking volunteers. We appointed a Child Advocate to
Aziz. At first, he refused to meet with them. But our Child Advocate
kept showing up week after week, month after month, just in case Aziz changed
his mind.
When
Aziz finally confirmed that
his Child Advocate was truly there to help him, he began to
trust and share his story. The Young Center found a specialized
treatment center and an interpreter to help Aziz begin healing from his trauma
and advocated for him to be enrolled in a local school. After a long search,
the Young Center also discovered an aunt in Afghanistan who was still trying to
emigrate.
We
won’t quit until we reunite Aziz with his sole remaining family member.
With only one flight per week out of the country and no mechanism in the U.S.
to approve her arrival, we will continue to fight for Aziz to reunite with his
aunt. Your donation this holiday season can contribute to that journey and
countless others’
like it. Aziz’s story is one among the 1,500 children
separated from family members after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in
2021. Your gift can make a difference in ensuring Aziz’s story has a happy
ending. Give today.
Thank
you, and have a joyous holiday season and peaceful New Year.
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