After more than a year in America, 5-year-old Ava - who we met earlier in the podcast - is still living with her aunts in Salt Lake City, while her parents remain in Afghanistan. The urgency to bring them to the U.S. is underscored by a terrifying visit by the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the family’s future in America, along with most of the Afghans who were evacuated to the US remains uncertain. They apply for asylum but don’t know whether they will get an answer before the temporary humanitarian parole allowing them to live in the U.S. expires. Will they be sent back to the country they fled for their lives? A volunteer in the neighborhood who they call “Mom” is determined to help the family. She joins forces with US military veterans and faith-based groups to advocate for passage of legislation in Congress.
Also in this episode, we get updates on others we’ve been following in this podcast including Sima, the soldier from the Female Tactical Platoon. She meets a lawyer who volunteers to help her with her asylum application. And Sima gets an opportunity that is too good to pass up, but it means saying good-bye to the friends she’s made in Utah.
For more information including pictures and a transcript of this episode, visit us at kslpodcasts.com.
For more on Hope4Afghanistan, visit the website: hope4afghanistan.org.
Joining KSL Podcasts Premium is a great way to support our show and to get our bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts.
Stranger Becomes Neighbor is sponsored by Better Help.
September 19th, 2023, 07:01 am
Stranger Becomes Neighbor
Ep 6 - Small Hands
00:00
58m
Published September 19th, 2023, 07:01 am
Description
After more than a year in America, 5-year-old Ava - who we met earlier in the podcast - is still living with her aunts in Salt Lake City, while her parents remain in Afghanistan. The urgency to bring them to the U.S. is underscored by a terrifying visit by the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the family’s future in America, along with most of the Afghans who were evacuated to the US remains uncertain. They apply for asylum but don’t know whether they will get an answer before the temporary humanitarian parole allowing them to live in the U.S. expires. Will they be sent back to the country they fled for their lives? A volunteer in the neighborhood who they call “Mom” is determined to help the family. She joins forces with US military veterans and faith-based groups to advocate for passage of legislation in Congress.
Also in this episode, we get updates on others we’ve been following in this podcast including Sima, the soldier from the Female Tactical Platoon. She meets a lawyer who volunteers to help her with her asylum application. And Sima gets an opportunity that is too good to pass up, but it means saying good-bye to the friends she’s made in Utah.
For more information including pictures and a transcript of this episode, visit us at kslpodcasts.com.
For more on Hope4Afghanistan, visit the website: hope4afghanistan.org.
Joining KSL Podcasts Premium is a great way to support our show and to get our bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts.
Stranger Becomes Neighbor is sponsored by Better Help.
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Stranger Becomes Neighbor
We saw it on the news. The images still haunt us.
Two years ago this month, a desperate sea of humanity rushed the Kabul airport as the American military started mass evacuations in Afghanistan. Many were left behind to face the Taliban, while some escaped to countries like Iran and Pakistan.
For over 80,000 refugees, America is now home. Their lives continue, but our news feeds have moved on, blasting stories about today’s crisis-du-jour. Now these evacuees live beside us, trying to make ends meet, find housing, gain acceptance, adapt to a new culture, and become valued members of our communities.
In Stranger Becomes Neighbor, we follow them. And we meet the Americans who have chosen to help their new neighbors. Like the stay-at-home mom who convinces a neighbor to rent out their basement to a pregnant Afghan woman, then finds herself helping to deliver the baby. Like a young widow who served in a secret pro-American unit of the Afghan military and now struggles to find childcare so she can work at Walmart.
Their stories – and the heartbreaking stories of loved ones left behind – inspire us to discover the hope and triumph of the human spirit.
What can one person do to help a stranger?
We find out on a new podcast from KSL Podcasts, the people who brought you Cold and The Letter.
Coming soon, Stranger Becomes Neighbor
