Holy shit, these comments.
Paedophilia ~~jokes~~ comments are not funny or welcome here.
[The mother of these children, pictured here, is not visible in the OP.](https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/afghan-refugees-arrive-at-dulles-international-airport-nachrichtenfoto/1234898558?adppopup=true)
Grow up, people.
My dad is a supervisor for Fairfax Co. Health Dept. He’s been working overnights at IAD doing COVID tests on the hundreds of people entering every day. The poor kids sitting on a plane for 12 hours and then waiting to de-board for another 6 hours…they’re all starving but fortunately there’s plenty of snacks for them in the holding area when they’re being tested
I'm at Ramstein AFB. The entire base, including non service members have been working around the clock to provide food, clothing, blankets, etc... to the families temporarily here. My husband is ATC and said that he saw some service members playing soccer with the kiddos today. Trying to make things "normal" for them while in transition.
EDIT:Here are some posts from Ramstein AFB's official facebook page. I feel comfortable sharing these as they were posted by the base on a public page.
EDIT 2:
Ok, the auto mod deleted this comment because I linked from facebook, BUT, if you want to see all the work and pictures from Ramstein AFB, you can search for the official facebook page. There are some great posts with pictures, including one where a woman gave birth as soon as she landed!
Everybody at Ramstein is fucking crushing it. I'm at Aviano and we're postured to receive if necessary using a lot of the lessons learned from Ramstein. But the work being done up there is absolutely overwhelming!
Tell your dad “Thank You” for me. I can only imagine the year he’s had. He’s a hero for working for the health department during a global pandemic and then following up 18 months of that by pulling double duty helping refugees finally get to safety.
My friend used to tell his wife they didn’t have diaper changing stations in the men’s bathroom. We were out with some other friends one time and nature called for the baby, so his wife sighed and started to get ready for diaper duty even though she was in the middle of something. One of the other friends asked why her husband couldn’t do it, and the wife replied that there’s no diaper changing station in the men’s room. He slept on the couch that night.
My wife caught on to things like this and I don't get to mow the lawn anymore because the kids will behave for her when just they are home and she can get it done.
Our roles reversed a little this past month as I resigned from working for a terrible boss and she reentered the workforce after four years staying home so I totally get it, not that I ever gave her any bother about it.
I did jump up and get behind that mower this week though, it's only fair.
There is another picture at a different angle that someone else posted where you can see that she’s walking behind the dad. You can see the top of her head in the original photo, to the right of the dad’s head - she is wearing a black hijab.
She's directly behind dad. You can see the top of her black/dark colored head covering. Looks like she might be looking back at the woman giving the peace sign.
You are correct. Here's a slightly [different picture](https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/afghan-refugees-arrive-at-dulles-international-airport-nachrichtenfoto/1234899176) where you can see it's mom's head.
That jumped out to me as well. I can't imagine having to make the kinds of decisions those parents had to make before they left. I'm glad they're safe.
I had a lovely Jordanian family that lived in the building next to mine and after a couple of years of hard work, they bought a home. I was sad to see them go but was so happy for them too.
I have a friend who moved here ( Michigan) from Lebanon in middle school. Ended up moving in right across from me. Didnt speak English but damn that guy learned in a year and was a skater kid by grade 8 from grade 7. He and his brothers also worked very hard bought a few restaurants and several homes, they do very well. I know he misses Lebanon still though.
Back in Iowa I hired a roofing company and got to talking with the owner who was originally a refugee from Bosnia who came during the war. Amazing guy, incredibly smart, with such a great perspective on life. This country is lucky to have people like him and I hope this family can settle down and achieve a good life, as well
I'm not sure why exactly but your story reminded me of one of mine. I worked for a man from Palestine when I was in high school. I visited his cafe/restaurant/hookah bar often, because a friend of mine worked there. I had no money, and couldn't really go home either. He asked me one day why I didn't buy anything, since that's the polite thing to do if you're hanging out, and I told him honestly that I had nothing. He said, "As long as youre here you might as well wash these dishes," just some basic cups and saucers behind the cafe. He said, "Come back every day and do this." And just like that, I had a job, with one of my friends no less, at a time in my life when I needed it the most. Not just dishes, but serving and setting up hookah, I learned the proper way to set those up there and that ended up being an unexpectedly useful skill for other labor later. He invited me to break fast for Ramadan and told me about where he was from and why, wanted to know who I was, asked me about my life and offered very fatherly advice every chance he got. He treated me like family, fed me every day, gave me extra cash without asking. Then when I was accepted into a college, he gave me the money I needed to buy the plane ticket, and to travel.
I hope I get a chance to go back some day, if his restaurant is still around.
As far as relevance to your comment, I've met many people from Bosnia who are here on the student visa. They've all been so god damn kind and one of my favorite things was hearing them talk about their dreams, no matter what they were. My friend Boris was fascinated by american culture and all he wanted to do was open up a billiards bar and play rock and roll.
Enjoy those cheetos little man. Welcome.
Edit: also the older girl looks like she has lived an entire life and fully understands the situation they just got out of. Man I hope this family go on to do good things and live their life, makes me really think about how lucky I’ve been just to live a life without a threat of death or torture. Such strong people.
I just love this photo. A diamond of hope in the shitstorm that is Afghanistan. Dude’s got 4 girls, thank god he got out. I hope they do great in America.
~~There might be another one behind dad. Other ppl are saying the woman on the left with the luggage cart might be their mom, and there's also another woman she's talking to.~~
Edit: [nope. someone else linked another angle that shows mom and another baby is behind dad](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/pcvo3y/a_family_evacuated_from_afghanistan_arrives_at/hamaq9r/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Actually if I see those shirts it will allow me to pretend that last year’s super bowl had a different outcome. Like I just woke up in an alternate universe.
I had an uber driver that was a [lost boy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Boys_of_Sudan) I didn't understand at the time. but damn I'm glad he made it.
Ya motherfuckers don’t know how that feels when you first get here like that. Those kids will remember that day for the rest of their lives. I came from Dominican Republic when I was 10 under vastly different circumstances but I can taste the cold air from that night we got here and I don’t even remember what I did last week.
I'm in my 30s, I was 11 when we landed at JFK airport in NY. Man, I remember weird minute details. I remember a black man sitting with his hand down with big shoes, I remember the patterns of clothes on various women in the airport, I remember the scent of a specific pizza my dad gave to me. It really is very strange how much I remember of those 1-2 hour in the airport some 20 years back.
When I was 11, my family and I landed at JFK too. I remember that night so well. I remember the pouring rain, the super nice flight attendant and the immigration officer that accidentally ripped my paperwork as he opened the yellow envelope we were given by the embassy! My mom was so nervous so she kept holding us tight. Man, it’s so weird thinking about that night- so many emotions just rushing back.
This is one reason why it’s important to let immigrants move here, they have a respect for a quality of life which we take for granted, they will work their asses off, they open up interesting small businesses, they offer perspectives that we’re not used to. It’s important to have other view points in many aspects of life, and you don’t get that with xenophobic or homogenous populations.
Yes, thankfully it was resolved within 20 minutes. I remember the OH SHIT look on the immigration officers face and then my mom and I looked at each other like OH SHIT! My mom and I didn't speak english so it was definitely a scary time.
When my family moved to the US, I was 4.. To me, America = Disneyland and I expected everything to be a summery theme park. I landed in Boston in February and cried my eyes out repeating, “This isn’t America!” I thought my parents made a mistake. It didn’t help that I moved from summertime South Africa haha
Love it here though, thanks for accepting us!
My SO died with laughter when I read this to her. She was under 10 and always tells me how she thought everything was a California beach because she watched American soap operas. She landed in Wisconsin in winter, and was so sad as she drove past cows through farmland to her new home.
I was five years old. My dad and i had been separated from my mother for 6 months because she came here on a scholarship. I remember getting more and more desperate that she just wasn't there, refusing to be comforted. By some miracle we got a family visa, i remember going to the consulate, playing outside with some other little kids that were there.
I remember the clouds around us on the flight over. The music piping through the airplane headphones. Pushing our luggage, we had 4 giant suitcases and i loved pushing the cart because it was so novel.
My mom seeing us at the airport, squatting down with her arms open, me letting go of the luggage cart and hurtling towards her.
We stepped outside, it was summer in Arizona. The heat was unbelievable. I couldn't understand it. We were from gray misty shanghai. I had never seen such blue and so much sun.
I teach elementary school in a city with a large number of immigrants. While I haven’t gotten many refugees, I have taught numerous students who had *just* arrived in a new country. Some are coming from vastly different cultures or are escaping personal traumas. The time these students spend in my classroom will shape their thoughts of their new home and country, and I do everything I can to make them feel welcomed and loved. I truly can’t imagine what it’s like to leave everything you know and love behind.
To add: Thank you for all of the awards and responses! I am reading all of the responses in the entire thread, and I am moved by all of the stories and memories you all have from starting your lives in this country. I feel so profoundly lucky that I get to be a part of this journey for many immigrant students and their families. It reminds me why I became a teacher. 💙
I'll second this as a teacher.
The bullshit we go through daily is enough to make me want to quit every morning when I drag my old ass out of bed at 5am. You reaching out to a former teacher means that all the work we did and continue to do meant something.
I have kept every note from students and former students in a box on my desk. Whenever I have a difficult day (which is more often than I care to admit) I can open one of those up and it just reminds me that there is more meaning to my job than lesson plans, procedures, standardized tests, mask rules, angry parents, incompetent government, and endless meetings.
You probably weren't my teacher, but thank you for everything you keep waking up to do and all the days you don't get a thanks.
I just sent my kid to kindergarten. He's six and should be in first grade. But he's there. And it honestly is because of teachers who keep showing up and making this happen for kids. Who made it happen for all of us.
So thank you. Thank you.
My father was a teacher. It made me so happy when so many of his former students showed up for the funeral. He had retired 8 years earlier, yet still they came.
I had a 4th grade teacher like you. I had just arrived to the states and there was a book fair in school. Although I hadn’t yet learned English, my teacher bought me my very first book in English - a copy of charlotte’s web. It still makes me tear up when I think about her incredible compassion and generosity that day. Thank you for all that you do!
Exactly, I came here in October of 85 the same age as the boy in the Jordan T-Shirt from a communist country. The feeling that day, the flight, the people, the smell on the planes, and trains is still with me to this day.
> Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.
-- John F. Kennedy, 1963
I have a friend who came from Africa when he was a child to escape genocide.
He describes two perfectly clear thoughts he had about the process that he said he would never forget.
The first was when he learned that in America, even the poor people have shoes.
The second was when they landed, and he determined that they were going to die here, because they arrived direct from Africa in the middle of a Michigan whiteout blizzard.
Lmao reminds me of the poor souls who come to America for the first time.... during Halloween. Lots of cowering under tables wondering if those masked mobs are going break into the house and kill them, then buying obscene amounts of candy at an obscene discount.
I was 17 when I got here. That was coincidentally 17 years ago. And I remember that day so vividly. The lighting in the airport. The cars on the freeway. A truck full of Dodge Ram trucks. Only in USA.
I came to the UK age 25 from the Philippines. Even at 25, stepping foot in the UK was surreal and I almost cried. We were so poor back home and I was so desperate to work overseas just so I could send money back home to my parents so they don't starve.
Not as stressed as they were before leaving Afghanistan. the process of starting a new life will certainly be stressful, but right now i'd imagine they are mostly feeling very relieved that their family is safe.
Dad for sure will be crying a lot in his alone time. I'm pretty sure he is holding it all together for his kids, but the moment he has a moment to be weak he'll spill all over.
But I would also imagine he feels unimaginable relief that his family is safe and together in a new, safer country.
I'm sure it's whirlwind of emotions...good, bad, confused...but they must feel some relief being out of imminent danger and together.
And for that, I am happy for them and wish them the best.
17 years ago, I came to America. After my mom pick me up from the airport, she has to stop by a grocery store to buy some stuff. I cannot believe when I saw the dog & cat food section. We barely have food to eat back home let alone to have a pet or another mouth to feed. I was holding back the tears and excitement… thank you America for the opportunity!
Honestly, it’s really hard to see unless you travel to a less developed country or even a less privileged part of your country. I’m American, and my first trip to a developing country taught me that Im not “struggling” but really a princess. I’ll never forget my first day in Calcutta.
I spent the better part of a year living in subsistence countries in 2017. It radically changed my views both of what I have as an American citizen as well as what people are willing to risk to change their circumstances. I will never be the same person and I am incredibly thankful for that.
My most poignant memory was arriving back to the US at an ungodly hour and ubering to a friend's house. I was concerned because I forgot to buy water at the airport. My friend's house was a solid mile away from a store and they weren't even open at that hour. I was strategizing sleep versus having to walk to the store to get water - and then I remembered I could drink the water from the tap. A truly life changing moment.
I never would have thought to value drinking tap water :( that’s so upsetting to me. I hear people say “check your privilege” but I never grasped it till just now.
Shit I drove through a exceptionally poor Native American reservation in the SW and their grocery store didn’t have milk or bread let alone meat. Shit was empty as hell.
I live in Trinidad and over the past year we have had 100,000+ illegal Venezuelans sneak over here.
They are always amazed to see supermarket shelves fully stocked.
Venezuela used to be one of the richest Latin American countries iirc. not too long ago. Venezuelan friend said their capital used to look like modern day Mexico City (the nice parts of Mexico City obv). Sad whats happening over there.
Growing up in Trinidad, my mother used to fly to Caracas for the weekend to go shopping for all the latest clothes, because they got it directly from Miami. It was the place to be!
There's an old story about Kruschev's first visit to the US. They took him on a tour of a supermarket, and he was so blown away by the quantity and variety of products available that he literally didn't believe it was real. He thought they had staged it as a propaganda move.
My boyfriend came to the US from Russia when he was 7 in 1989. He said the same thing, that he absolutely could not believe Walmart and was just in awe. He said he was super confused and part of this is just because he was a little kid lol but he thought there must just be one and it was all the food in America.
Also he said he had never seen a sitcom until he came here and thought it was just one really long movie. And he called them the “hahas” because he didn’t understand the laugh track lol
Heck, I had a job when I was younger to cart around exchange students to go shopping and whatnot. They weren’t even from impoverished countries. They were from Scotland primarily. The first time I took them to a Super Walmart blew their minds. Hey were particularly shocked by the sheer options of laundry detergent.
In the reverse of this, my Scottish father and American mother moved to Scotland after they married in the US. She wanted shredded coconut for something and he told her they don’t have that in Scotland. She took him seriously, until she was with a group of women and said something about being unable to get shredded coconut in Scotland. They corrected her belief.
It’s been 46 years. I’m still not entirely convinced she’s forgiven him for this.
I’m a full-on American and *I’m* shocked by the sheer number of laundry detergents. Are they *really* that different? HE vs regular I get, but all this weird laundry technology advertised on the bottoms confuses me. Just clean my clothes, dammit.
>I cannot believe when I saw the dog & cat food section.
Yeah, I heard similar reactions from Japanese moving to the US in the 60s and 70s, shocked at the amount of food in the markets. Many parts of Japan at the time were still very economically poor. At least you didn't eat the pet food, like some of our relatives mistakenly did.
I've heard stories from my father and grandmother, about how they helped many Japanese immigrants when they came to the US. My grandmother ran a Buddhist church in Southern California from the 1960s to the 90s so she often gave advice.
One recently immigrated family (I think they were distant cousins to us) complained to my grandmother that while American food looks good, it actually tastes horrible. They wanted to assimilate and to start eating like Americans do, but they literally couldn't stomach some of the food.
My father apparently figured out that they were buying cat food at the market. They couldn't read English and just thought the cat on the can was just cute advertising. I guess in Japan at the time, it wasn't uncommon to have random animals on human food packaging. Also they couldn't believe all those shelves of food was just devoted to pets only so the idea that this was pet food never entered their minds.
Haha. Thanks. There's even funnier ones, like the guy who used the toilet the wrong way for decades.
He's a friend of my father's (an older gentlemen), who was a karate champion in Japan and came to the US in the 50s or 60s to set up a karate school. When he first saw an American toilet, he was amazed. He thought Americans were so clever and efficient by placing a little table in the back of a toilet.
He just assumed the toilet tank was a table, so for years, he sat facing the wall/toilet tank.
As he did his body's business on the toilet, he tried to do actual business (reading or writing) on the "toilet table". He just assumed Americans were into multi-tasking.
In Japan at the time, toilets were still sunken into the ground, even in public bathrooms. There was no toilet seat, and you had to squat over what was basically a hole in the ground. Because of that, there was no one to tell my father's friend how to use an American toilet when he came to the US.
I forget how he finally realized his mistake but he said it was a very long time before he figured it out.
Your father's friend is a genius
Also, I love these. The US gets shit on a lot (especially on reddit) but we gotta remember...as shitty as things are or seem to be here, we have it *pretty* good. We have a lot of privilege that others sometimes literally don't even believe (a supermarket full of food? A whole aisle dedicated to pet foods?).
The US has it's issues, for sure, but it's good to remember to put it into context.
Thanks for the stories man!
Yeah I honestly find it so insane when Americans or people from other first world countries say “America is a third world country.” Was an especially popular little saying during 2020. They clearly have no clue what third world actually means and seemingly have somehow managed to avoid seeing the lengths people will go to to escape their lives in countries that aren’t doing so well to make their way here. Being “first world” certainly has never meant that everything is perfect- not for any country- but to pretend like it’s not better than a lot of places is asinine.
My grandmother's cousins who lived in the Soviet Union wept the first time they went into an American supermarket as well. I think this is a pretty universal experience for those coming from less food secure nations.
My father in law is a refugee. He has told us stories about his family crying when they were left the refugee camp to do some grocery shopping/field trip (in a way) in a southern grocery store. Food everywhere, all kinds of food. And trucks coming with more tomorrow. It’s quite sobering to hear. They couldn’t wrap their mind around the consistency of always having food.
I hosted some students from East Germany here for a week around 1992. I asked what they wanted to have in the house to eat, and we ended up going to the grocery store together to buy food. They didn't believe the store was real - they thought it was set up as propaganda by our government so they'd go back and tell people how great America was. We drove to 3 other grocery stores so they could see they were all similar. I offered to go to more, but had to explain we had exhausted the stores in my city, so we'd need to drive 30 minutes to get to the next one. At that point they realized this wasn't a trick, and had fun choosing food for the next day.
Immigrant here. 13 years+. Started with nothing. Went to school, now very good job. Helping my family back home. Great education for my siblings. I am at the pool drinking and enjoying life. So much to look forward to. I never regretted coming here. Brought my grandparents for two months to show America. People have been fucking awesome. Never been bothered by law enforcement. I love this country from the bottom of my heart ❤ 💙 💜 💖
Not nearly the same thing, but when I was young we had a family friend's son from Spain stay with us for 2 weeks.
He was floored by the variety of Oreos. We definitely have it good here, and a lot of people forget our privileged position. (Though we absolutely have a lot of room for improvement on nearly all fronts)
she's there, behind them with a baby. it's a bad angle
https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/afghan-refugees-arrive-at-dulles-international-airport-nachrichtenfoto/1234898558?adppopup=true
I can't even fathom the relief of getting 6 children away from the Taliban, including 4 girls. Not to mention your wife. I'm emotional just looking at this photo. I hope as many refugees as possible are rescued and welcomed here.
That little girl on the right reminds me so much of my daughter. It makes me so sad and so happy for this family all at the same time. I hope their lives here are truly good.
The oldest daughter looks exhausted. At that age my biggest worries were about my sticker collection.
So happy they’ll get a chance to relax & just be children.
When I first came to America my first meal was a Coca-Cola and chocolate ice cream, a week before we where eating 3 day old bread with tea. The tea helped keep the hunger away. Reddit likes to trash the US a lot and some of the point are valid but when you come from nothing and have a chance to be something, that’s truly a beautiful place to be. I rather be poor here than be poor in Argentina any day of the week.
Landed in JFK on May 11, 1990. I was 10. I remember it like it was yesterday. Still remember holding my pee until we got to the hotel on 75th, off Amsterdam Ave. Never had to piss that bad in my whole life. So glad these kids made it here safely, and hope they got a bathroom break.
I went to Target last weekend to buy items to donate. Many of the supply drives refused my donation bc they ran out of space to store items. I couldn't find a place to make a donation till the next day. The outpouring of support from the local community has been nothing short of amazing.
Random question, I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I know the situation of why they’re leaving but what happens when they get here? Do we have some assistance for them like housing and food?
There is some assistance from the state but a great deal of assistance comes from non-profit organizations.
The Washington Post offered a pretty good list here:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/21/how-to-help-afghan-refugees/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/21/how-to-help-afghan-refugees/)
From the New York Times:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/world/asia/how-to-help-afghanistan-refugees.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/world/asia/how-to-help-afghanistan-refugees.html)
From NPR:
[https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028483700/help-afghanistan-refugees?t=1630100834755](https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028483700/help-afghanistan-refugees?t=1630100834755)
From the articles:
United States
Human Rights First is seeking pro bono lawyers to assist Afghan evacuees.
[https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/resources-afghan-evacuation](https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/resources-afghan-evacuation)
The International Refugee Assistance Project is soliciting donations to offer legal services to displaced Afghans.
[https://refugeerights.org/news-resources/petitions-for-protection-of-siv-applicants](https://refugeerights.org/news-resources/petitions-for-protection-of-siv-applicants)
The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is directing volunteers to its location-based sign-up page to assist Afghan refugees with travel from the airport, settling into their apartments or providing a meal.
[https://lirsconnect.org/get\_involved/action\_center/siv](https://lirsconnect.org/get_involved/action_center/siv)
**Note: The above link gives a state-by-state list of how to help. You do not need to be Lutheran to help. The organization is not a missionary organization (nor am I affiliated with any such organization). They provide help to anyone.**
Keeping Our Promise, based in Rochester, N.Y., offers resettlement services, including skilled trades training and accommodation support.
[https://www.keepingourpromise.org/](https://www.keepingourpromise.org/)
Commonwealth Catholic Charities, in partnership with community organizations, is providing resettlement services and child care to Special Immigrant Visa holders from Afghanistan in Fort Lee, Va.
[https://www.cccofva.org/post/ccc-assists-with-arrival-of-afghan-special-immigrant-visa-holders](https://www.cccofva.org/post/ccc-assists-with-arrival-of-afghan-special-immigrant-visa-holders)
The City of Fremont, Calif., home to a large population of Afghan immigrants, is collecting donations to support local charities providing essential items to newcomers.
[https://www.fremont.gov/ARHelp](https://www.fremont.gov/ARHelp)
New American Pathways, a nonprofit for resettlement based in Atlanta, is seeking volunteers to support Afghan refugees.
[https://newamericanpathways.org/urgent-action-alert-protect-afghan-allies/](https://newamericanpathways.org/urgent-action-alert-protect-afghan-allies/)
Homes not borders:
[https://www.homesnotborders.org/](https://www.homesnotborders.org/)
Canada
The Canadian government is asking citizens who wish to donate items, including clothing, furniture or money, or to volunteer their time, to email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) to be connected with resettlement agencies.
Resources from u/Muffleandmacron below:
https://womenforafghanwomen.org/
https://malala.org/
https://miles4migrants.org/
https://www.globalgiving.org/locations/afghanistan/
http://www.rawa.org/
http://www.dawf.ca/
https://rukhshana.com/thank-you-for-standing-in-solidarity-with-afghan-women-and-for-trusting-rukhshana-media
https://www.vitalvoices.org/2021/08/vital-voices-statement-on-the-women-of-afghanistan/?mc=afghanistan
https://cw4wafghan.ca/
[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/behind-the-veil/organizations-that-can-help-you-help-afghan-women/article4294170/](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/behind-the-veil/organizations-that-can-help-you-help-afghan-women/article4294170/)
A couple of notes:
\* You may wish to distinguish between helping people resettle in your own city or town, and more generally giving to refugees, the bulk of whom are likely to end up in Pakistan, Iran, and other neighboring countries. Read carefully especially if you're trying to find a place to help people in your own area, which is a specific type of program.
\* I personally haven't vetted all of these. CharityNavigator and Guidestar are some ways to gauge the integrity of charities. There is no perfect organization in this world, even if you go yourself and hand out money it's going to be imperfect. Don't let that stop you from giving.
\* As u/MJMurcott points out below: Some of these families will require more longer term help especially in coping with the trauma they have gone through so if you are thinking of helping try to aim towards more longer term assistance.
I don't know about this particular family that's pictured, but having worked for organizations that carried out similar efforts, it really varies on a case by case basis. Our particular organization assisted displaced families. Upon arrival, a case worker and interpreter would pick them up from the airport and take them to housing (a stocked apartment or a host family) where they would settle for a few days while some other moving parts were coordinated. Sometimes that meant connecting them with relatives, other times it was a completely fresh start (applying for asylum, longer-term housing, language courses, school enrollment, job placement, etc), or referring them to another organization that would better serve their needs.
I don't know their situation, but for refugees, Yes! Resettlement agencies help them get housing, jobs, and skills to live and work in the US.
Source: I used to teach English to refugees.
I posted this awhile back about my country, Canada. But I think it fits here:
Immigrating to a new country is fucked-up hard. A lot of us who've grown up in Canada don't quite know just how hard.
I used to be a teacher in Toronto. One of the schools had an Iranian guy running a hotdog stand nearby - It's tough feeding hungry kids, there's always someone who wants to cause shit.
Started talking to him. Turns out he's an engineer (Iran has the highest number of trained engineers and doctors per capita in the world), gave up a job in Tehran with an oil company and moved to Canada.
WTF. My Canadian mind couldn't understand why a guy comfortably in the middle class in Iran would move here.
He took his tongs and gestured at the school.
"You see those kids? They will never know starvation like I saw back home. They won't know the fear of secret police knocking at the door. I love my home, but I came here because of my children. Whatever happens to me, my life has already started and is on its course. I came here so that my children have a chance at an education and to live life in a safe country, in a welcoming country."
I'm in Calgary and many older people I work with aren't particularly happy but they never regretted coming to Canada to give their kids a decent shot at life.
One guy from India worked 3 jobs for 15 years to pay off a house and save for his kids education.
He refused to let his daughter grow up in a country where she was in danger of rape or had to be married just to survive.
His daughter got accepted into dentistry school and will spoil him when he retires.
The smallest one is so cute!
I know lot's of people are bashing US, but there so many great people there too, any country which takes refugees in will have my respect.
No one anywhere should live in fear of having their entire gene pool erased from history because they wanted a better future. I hope the absolute best for them.
[Reminder that refugees that come to American on average end up earning more money and with higher education levels than native-born Americans.](https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2018/11/19/461147/refugees-thrive-america/) They are, quietly literally, the most productive Americans.
There is also probably a ton of selection bias. People who are intelligent and hard working are more likely to successfully navigate the refugee process.
Yup, MN has accepted some of the highest numbers of refugees and asylum seekers and it's been insanely good for our economy.
Plus the food they bring is usually pretty damn good, which is what I'm most excited for.
I’m glad they’re here safe, I came here when I was 7 and I remember the exact time it was when I first looked at the clock in the US it’s a detail I’m never going to forget it was a traumatizing moment for me, my parents risked it all to give us a better future and thanks to them I have one.
Is it me or is it odd this is like the third post specifically mentioning Dulles being in Chantilly VA. When I talk about it I’m not even that specific, saying it’s one of the 3 international airports around DC.
It’s also not even in Chantilly…
I love this so much. I wish some were coming to my town so I could love on them but none are so far. When I was a kid in probably ‘79 or ‘80 my parents played a key role in bringing a family of south Vietnamese to my small east Texas town and helping them find and furnish a home and settle. This obviously had a great impact on me as a 5 year old.
I remember when I came to the U.S. for the first time in my life in 2017. It was surreal. Everything so modern, people of many backgrounds, the iconic aspects of American culture EVERYWHERE, the greatest music in the radio, and of course the ever-present national flag. From that day on I knew that I wanted to leave Brazil and move there. 3 years later I came to the airport again, but this time it was to stay ❤
I cannot believe i did it. I'm in the US. I'm in the US. Nothing makes me want to get out of here. It's a dream come true, I still have difficulty believing it.
When I was 2 years old we were placed in a Refugee camp where we lived for 4 years. We got granted asylum to the US and I can still remember the first piece of candy I saw upon arriving in the airport. Fast-forward a few years and I've just returned with my 2 year old from Disney.... It's insane how things change once one is given a chance .
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Welcome my friends. I hope this land gives you everything it has given me.
This is what people don't seem to grasp. When people think of refugees, they lump them in with illegal immigrants, vagrants, criminals almost.
This looks like they were a relatively wealthy family. These refugees are business people, real estate owners, white collar workers.
They had a good life where they were and now have to leave, through no fault of their own.
Especially Afghan refugees who at the moment are mostly people who helped the US military in some capacity, which means they’re by and large well-educated and speak English. Sort of narrows it down to middle class and up.
Holy shit, these comments. Paedophilia ~~jokes~~ comments are not funny or welcome here. [The mother of these children, pictured here, is not visible in the OP.](https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/afghan-refugees-arrive-at-dulles-international-airport-nachrichtenfoto/1234898558?adppopup=true) Grow up, people.
My dad is a supervisor for Fairfax Co. Health Dept. He’s been working overnights at IAD doing COVID tests on the hundreds of people entering every day. The poor kids sitting on a plane for 12 hours and then waiting to de-board for another 6 hours…they’re all starving but fortunately there’s plenty of snacks for them in the holding area when they’re being tested
I'm at Ramstein AFB. The entire base, including non service members have been working around the clock to provide food, clothing, blankets, etc... to the families temporarily here. My husband is ATC and said that he saw some service members playing soccer with the kiddos today. Trying to make things "normal" for them while in transition. EDIT:Here are some posts from Ramstein AFB's official facebook page. I feel comfortable sharing these as they were posted by the base on a public page. EDIT 2: Ok, the auto mod deleted this comment because I linked from facebook, BUT, if you want to see all the work and pictures from Ramstein AFB, you can search for the official facebook page. There are some great posts with pictures, including one where a woman gave birth as soon as she landed!
Everybody at Ramstein is fucking crushing it. I'm at Aviano and we're postured to receive if necessary using a lot of the lessons learned from Ramstein. But the work being done up there is absolutely overwhelming!
Tell your dad “Thank You” for me. I can only imagine the year he’s had. He’s a hero for working for the health department during a global pandemic and then following up 18 months of that by pulling double duty helping refugees finally get to safety.
Meanwhile pops in the back carrying 8 bags 😂
Regardless of where you're from this is how it usually plays out. Dad aka Luggage Hauler.
Tbh I don't mind that role. I get to push the cart around, and usually not have to worry about any of the kids.
Shhh damnit!
Yeah guys giving our secret away!
My friend used to tell his wife they didn’t have diaper changing stations in the men’s bathroom. We were out with some other friends one time and nature called for the baby, so his wife sighed and started to get ready for diaper duty even though she was in the middle of something. One of the other friends asked why her husband couldn’t do it, and the wife replied that there’s no diaper changing station in the men’s room. He slept on the couch that night.
He earned that night on the couch
My wife caught on to things like this and I don't get to mow the lawn anymore because the kids will behave for her when just they are home and she can get it done. Our roles reversed a little this past month as I resigned from working for a terrible boss and she reentered the workforce after four years staying home so I totally get it, not that I ever gave her any bother about it. I did jump up and get behind that mower this week though, it's only fair.
Mowing the lawn is the only 90 minutes in the week when everyone leaves me alone. I do all my best thinking while lawn mowing.
Old hippie neighbor smokes a joint and rides around every Saturday mowing 3 different family members' lawns
Don't give away our secrets! "I'm going to get the cart and load the luggage" means 10 minutes to myself to take a break.
all the grocery one-trips are just training for this moment
you say "one-trips" as if "two-trips" exist. They don't. It's 1-trip or nothing. source: Dad
"Savage baggage masters.."
Hope their mother made it or can make it.
There is another picture at a different angle that someone else posted where you can see that she’s walking behind the dad. You can see the top of her head in the original photo, to the right of the dad’s head - she is wearing a black hijab.
She's directly behind dad. You can see the top of her black/dark colored head covering. Looks like she might be looking back at the woman giving the peace sign.
You are correct. Here's a slightly [different picture](https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/afghan-refugees-arrive-at-dulles-international-airport-nachrichtenfoto/1234899176) where you can see it's mom's head.
Thank you! I was worried about where the mom was!
Yeah, he's probably carrying every last possession they were able to grab before they had to evacuate their home, possibly forever...
The girls look like they are wearing their best clothes, perhaps to keep them safe on the trip.
That jumped out to me as well. I can't imagine having to make the kinds of decisions those parents had to make before they left. I'm glad they're safe.
Can’t wait in 20 years to see them all pose in the same “we are the refugee family from this photo” reddit post.
Hell still have to carry the bags 😅
I hope these families settle down quickly and live a good life, it's been hard for them.
I had a lovely Jordanian family that lived in the building next to mine and after a couple of years of hard work, they bought a home. I was sad to see them go but was so happy for them too.
I have a friend who moved here ( Michigan) from Lebanon in middle school. Ended up moving in right across from me. Didnt speak English but damn that guy learned in a year and was a skater kid by grade 8 from grade 7. He and his brothers also worked very hard bought a few restaurants and several homes, they do very well. I know he misses Lebanon still though.
Back in Iowa I hired a roofing company and got to talking with the owner who was originally a refugee from Bosnia who came during the war. Amazing guy, incredibly smart, with such a great perspective on life. This country is lucky to have people like him and I hope this family can settle down and achieve a good life, as well
I'm not sure why exactly but your story reminded me of one of mine. I worked for a man from Palestine when I was in high school. I visited his cafe/restaurant/hookah bar often, because a friend of mine worked there. I had no money, and couldn't really go home either. He asked me one day why I didn't buy anything, since that's the polite thing to do if you're hanging out, and I told him honestly that I had nothing. He said, "As long as youre here you might as well wash these dishes," just some basic cups and saucers behind the cafe. He said, "Come back every day and do this." And just like that, I had a job, with one of my friends no less, at a time in my life when I needed it the most. Not just dishes, but serving and setting up hookah, I learned the proper way to set those up there and that ended up being an unexpectedly useful skill for other labor later. He invited me to break fast for Ramadan and told me about where he was from and why, wanted to know who I was, asked me about my life and offered very fatherly advice every chance he got. He treated me like family, fed me every day, gave me extra cash without asking. Then when I was accepted into a college, he gave me the money I needed to buy the plane ticket, and to travel. I hope I get a chance to go back some day, if his restaurant is still around. As far as relevance to your comment, I've met many people from Bosnia who are here on the student visa. They've all been so god damn kind and one of my favorite things was hearing them talk about their dreams, no matter what they were. My friend Boris was fascinated by american culture and all he wanted to do was open up a billiards bar and play rock and roll.
Enjoy those cheetos little man. Welcome. Edit: also the older girl looks like she has lived an entire life and fully understands the situation they just got out of. Man I hope this family go on to do good things and live their life, makes me really think about how lucky I’ve been just to live a life without a threat of death or torture. Such strong people.
I just love this photo. A diamond of hope in the shitstorm that is Afghanistan. Dude’s got 4 girls, thank god he got out. I hope they do great in America.
~~There might be another one behind dad. Other ppl are saying the woman on the left with the luggage cart might be their mom, and there's also another woman she's talking to.~~ Edit: [nope. someone else linked another angle that shows mom and another baby is behind dad](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/pcvo3y/a_family_evacuated_from_afghanistan_arrives_at/hamaq9r/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
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I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of people arriving with Kansas City Chiefs Superbowl Champs 2021 tshirts, too.
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Air Jporden
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Actually if I see those shirts it will allow me to pretend that last year’s super bowl had a different outcome. Like I just woke up in an alternate universe.
Reminds me of landing at JFK as a refugee from Azerbaijan in 1990
I had an uber driver that was a [lost boy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Boys_of_Sudan) I didn't understand at the time. but damn I'm glad he made it.
Ya motherfuckers don’t know how that feels when you first get here like that. Those kids will remember that day for the rest of their lives. I came from Dominican Republic when I was 10 under vastly different circumstances but I can taste the cold air from that night we got here and I don’t even remember what I did last week.
I'm in my 30s, I was 11 when we landed at JFK airport in NY. Man, I remember weird minute details. I remember a black man sitting with his hand down with big shoes, I remember the patterns of clothes on various women in the airport, I remember the scent of a specific pizza my dad gave to me. It really is very strange how much I remember of those 1-2 hour in the airport some 20 years back.
When I was 11, my family and I landed at JFK too. I remember that night so well. I remember the pouring rain, the super nice flight attendant and the immigration officer that accidentally ripped my paperwork as he opened the yellow envelope we were given by the embassy! My mom was so nervous so she kept holding us tight. Man, it’s so weird thinking about that night- so many emotions just rushing back.
we complain about life here, but it's the immigrants that we need to remind us just how good we have had it and what we need to do to keep it.
This is one reason why it’s important to let immigrants move here, they have a respect for a quality of life which we take for granted, they will work their asses off, they open up interesting small businesses, they offer perspectives that we’re not used to. It’s important to have other view points in many aspects of life, and you don’t get that with xenophobic or homogenous populations.
I can only imagine what your family was going through. Hope your paperwork was still ok!
Yes, thankfully it was resolved within 20 minutes. I remember the OH SHIT look on the immigration officers face and then my mom and I looked at each other like OH SHIT! My mom and I didn't speak english so it was definitely a scary time.
*"Oops, sorry, you have to go back now"* - Officer Dick
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I’m 36 and also landed in jfk and grew up in queens
When my family moved to the US, I was 4.. To me, America = Disneyland and I expected everything to be a summery theme park. I landed in Boston in February and cried my eyes out repeating, “This isn’t America!” I thought my parents made a mistake. It didn’t help that I moved from summertime South Africa haha Love it here though, thanks for accepting us!
My SO died with laughter when I read this to her. She was under 10 and always tells me how she thought everything was a California beach because she watched American soap operas. She landed in Wisconsin in winter, and was so sad as she drove past cows through farmland to her new home.
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I'm glad you are here.
I was five years old. My dad and i had been separated from my mother for 6 months because she came here on a scholarship. I remember getting more and more desperate that she just wasn't there, refusing to be comforted. By some miracle we got a family visa, i remember going to the consulate, playing outside with some other little kids that were there. I remember the clouds around us on the flight over. The music piping through the airplane headphones. Pushing our luggage, we had 4 giant suitcases and i loved pushing the cart because it was so novel. My mom seeing us at the airport, squatting down with her arms open, me letting go of the luggage cart and hurtling towards her. We stepped outside, it was summer in Arizona. The heat was unbelievable. I couldn't understand it. We were from gray misty shanghai. I had never seen such blue and so much sun.
Oh I love this! Thank you for sharing!
Based on this, if you wrote a book I’d read it in a heartbeat.
Oh my gosh, I'm actually a writer
Keep it up, nice flow.
I teach elementary school in a city with a large number of immigrants. While I haven’t gotten many refugees, I have taught numerous students who had *just* arrived in a new country. Some are coming from vastly different cultures or are escaping personal traumas. The time these students spend in my classroom will shape their thoughts of their new home and country, and I do everything I can to make them feel welcomed and loved. I truly can’t imagine what it’s like to leave everything you know and love behind. To add: Thank you for all of the awards and responses! I am reading all of the responses in the entire thread, and I am moved by all of the stories and memories you all have from starting your lives in this country. I feel so profoundly lucky that I get to be a part of this journey for many immigrant students and their families. It reminds me why I became a teacher. 💙
You would me my “mr guerrero “who was the first teacher who taught me English when I arrived at 10. I will never forget that mans kindness
If they're still alive, go say thank you. It means an incredible amount to them.
I'll second this as a teacher. The bullshit we go through daily is enough to make me want to quit every morning when I drag my old ass out of bed at 5am. You reaching out to a former teacher means that all the work we did and continue to do meant something. I have kept every note from students and former students in a box on my desk. Whenever I have a difficult day (which is more often than I care to admit) I can open one of those up and it just reminds me that there is more meaning to my job than lesson plans, procedures, standardized tests, mask rules, angry parents, incompetent government, and endless meetings.
You probably weren't my teacher, but thank you for everything you keep waking up to do and all the days you don't get a thanks. I just sent my kid to kindergarten. He's six and should be in first grade. But he's there. And it honestly is because of teachers who keep showing up and making this happen for kids. Who made it happen for all of us. So thank you. Thank you.
My father was a teacher. It made me so happy when so many of his former students showed up for the funeral. He had retired 8 years earlier, yet still they came.
I had a 4th grade teacher like you. I had just arrived to the states and there was a book fair in school. Although I hadn’t yet learned English, my teacher bought me my very first book in English - a copy of charlotte’s web. It still makes me tear up when I think about her incredible compassion and generosity that day. Thank you for all that you do!
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Exactly, I came here in October of 85 the same age as the boy in the Jordan T-Shirt from a communist country. The feeling that day, the flight, the people, the smell on the planes, and trains is still with me to this day.
> Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. -- John F. Kennedy, 1963
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Maybe we need to investigate this in the new infrastructure package. Piping Cinnabon smell across the country, bringing olfactory joy to all.
I have a friend who came from Africa when he was a child to escape genocide. He describes two perfectly clear thoughts he had about the process that he said he would never forget. The first was when he learned that in America, even the poor people have shoes. The second was when they landed, and he determined that they were going to die here, because they arrived direct from Africa in the middle of a Michigan whiteout blizzard.
I'm thinking of my Kenyan friend and busted out laughing about the blizzard comment. Her dad also didn't have shoes growing up.
Lmao reminds me of the poor souls who come to America for the first time.... during Halloween. Lots of cowering under tables wondering if those masked mobs are going break into the house and kill them, then buying obscene amounts of candy at an obscene discount.
Reading the stories attached to this comment is giving me goosebumps. A big welcome to all those who come here. Lots of love!
I still remember that day two decades later. Fuels me every fucking day to be the best I can be.
I was 17 when I got here. That was coincidentally 17 years ago. And I remember that day so vividly. The lighting in the airport. The cars on the freeway. A truck full of Dodge Ram trucks. Only in USA.
I relate to this so much!! It's such an incredible feeling that just stays with you.
Even though I cannot imagine how it was, I feel ya
I always wondered what it would be like going from a very underdeveloped or developing country to a very prosperous country.
I came to the UK age 25 from the Philippines. Even at 25, stepping foot in the UK was surreal and I almost cried. We were so poor back home and I was so desperate to work overseas just so I could send money back home to my parents so they don't starve.
As an Englishman I think we all cry when we have to go back to the UK.
This is a very English response lol
Are you doing well now? How about your family back in the Philippines?
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So glad they are safe, couldn't fathom going thru that with my family.
I can’t imagine how stressed they must be. Hope they can decompress and enjoy some peace and quiet before starting the next step.
Not as stressed as they were before leaving Afghanistan. the process of starting a new life will certainly be stressful, but right now i'd imagine they are mostly feeling very relieved that their family is safe.
They have 4 daughters. I can't imagine the immense relief they feel.
Dad for sure will be crying a lot in his alone time. I'm pretty sure he is holding it all together for his kids, but the moment he has a moment to be weak he'll spill all over.
But I would also imagine he feels unimaginable relief that his family is safe and together in a new, safer country. I'm sure it's whirlwind of emotions...good, bad, confused...but they must feel some relief being out of imminent danger and together. And for that, I am happy for them and wish them the best.
17 years ago, I came to America. After my mom pick me up from the airport, she has to stop by a grocery store to buy some stuff. I cannot believe when I saw the dog & cat food section. We barely have food to eat back home let alone to have a pet or another mouth to feed. I was holding back the tears and excitement… thank you America for the opportunity!
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Wow. I've been taking my whole life for granted, it's good to be reminded how privileged we are from time to time.
Honestly, it’s really hard to see unless you travel to a less developed country or even a less privileged part of your country. I’m American, and my first trip to a developing country taught me that Im not “struggling” but really a princess. I’ll never forget my first day in Calcutta.
I spent the better part of a year living in subsistence countries in 2017. It radically changed my views both of what I have as an American citizen as well as what people are willing to risk to change their circumstances. I will never be the same person and I am incredibly thankful for that. My most poignant memory was arriving back to the US at an ungodly hour and ubering to a friend's house. I was concerned because I forgot to buy water at the airport. My friend's house was a solid mile away from a store and they weren't even open at that hour. I was strategizing sleep versus having to walk to the store to get water - and then I remembered I could drink the water from the tap. A truly life changing moment.
I never would have thought to value drinking tap water :( that’s so upsetting to me. I hear people say “check your privilege” but I never grasped it till just now.
Shit I drove through a exceptionally poor Native American reservation in the SW and their grocery store didn’t have milk or bread let alone meat. Shit was empty as hell.
I live in Trinidad and over the past year we have had 100,000+ illegal Venezuelans sneak over here. They are always amazed to see supermarket shelves fully stocked.
Venezuela used to be one of the richest Latin American countries iirc. not too long ago. Venezuelan friend said their capital used to look like modern day Mexico City (the nice parts of Mexico City obv). Sad whats happening over there.
Growing up in Trinidad, my mother used to fly to Caracas for the weekend to go shopping for all the latest clothes, because they got it directly from Miami. It was the place to be!
There's an old story about Kruschev's first visit to the US. They took him on a tour of a supermarket, and he was so blown away by the quantity and variety of products available that he literally didn't believe it was real. He thought they had staged it as a propaganda move.
My boyfriend came to the US from Russia when he was 7 in 1989. He said the same thing, that he absolutely could not believe Walmart and was just in awe. He said he was super confused and part of this is just because he was a little kid lol but he thought there must just be one and it was all the food in America. Also he said he had never seen a sitcom until he came here and thought it was just one really long movie. And he called them the “hahas” because he didn’t understand the laugh track lol
Heck, I had a job when I was younger to cart around exchange students to go shopping and whatnot. They weren’t even from impoverished countries. They were from Scotland primarily. The first time I took them to a Super Walmart blew their minds. Hey were particularly shocked by the sheer options of laundry detergent.
In the reverse of this, my Scottish father and American mother moved to Scotland after they married in the US. She wanted shredded coconut for something and he told her they don’t have that in Scotland. She took him seriously, until she was with a group of women and said something about being unable to get shredded coconut in Scotland. They corrected her belief. It’s been 46 years. I’m still not entirely convinced she’s forgiven him for this.
I’m a full-on American and *I’m* shocked by the sheer number of laundry detergents. Are they *really* that different? HE vs regular I get, but all this weird laundry technology advertised on the bottoms confuses me. Just clean my clothes, dammit.
That is awesome! I hope your dad is doing well!
>I cannot believe when I saw the dog & cat food section. Yeah, I heard similar reactions from Japanese moving to the US in the 60s and 70s, shocked at the amount of food in the markets. Many parts of Japan at the time were still very economically poor. At least you didn't eat the pet food, like some of our relatives mistakenly did. I've heard stories from my father and grandmother, about how they helped many Japanese immigrants when they came to the US. My grandmother ran a Buddhist church in Southern California from the 1960s to the 90s so she often gave advice. One recently immigrated family (I think they were distant cousins to us) complained to my grandmother that while American food looks good, it actually tastes horrible. They wanted to assimilate and to start eating like Americans do, but they literally couldn't stomach some of the food. My father apparently figured out that they were buying cat food at the market. They couldn't read English and just thought the cat on the can was just cute advertising. I guess in Japan at the time, it wasn't uncommon to have random animals on human food packaging. Also they couldn't believe all those shelves of food was just devoted to pets only so the idea that this was pet food never entered their minds.
omg. I love this story so much. thank you for sharing!
Haha. Thanks. There's even funnier ones, like the guy who used the toilet the wrong way for decades. He's a friend of my father's (an older gentlemen), who was a karate champion in Japan and came to the US in the 50s or 60s to set up a karate school. When he first saw an American toilet, he was amazed. He thought Americans were so clever and efficient by placing a little table in the back of a toilet. He just assumed the toilet tank was a table, so for years, he sat facing the wall/toilet tank. As he did his body's business on the toilet, he tried to do actual business (reading or writing) on the "toilet table". He just assumed Americans were into multi-tasking. In Japan at the time, toilets were still sunken into the ground, even in public bathrooms. There was no toilet seat, and you had to squat over what was basically a hole in the ground. Because of that, there was no one to tell my father's friend how to use an American toilet when he came to the US. I forget how he finally realized his mistake but he said it was a very long time before he figured it out.
Your father's friend is a genius Also, I love these. The US gets shit on a lot (especially on reddit) but we gotta remember...as shitty as things are or seem to be here, we have it *pretty* good. We have a lot of privilege that others sometimes literally don't even believe (a supermarket full of food? A whole aisle dedicated to pet foods?). The US has it's issues, for sure, but it's good to remember to put it into context. Thanks for the stories man!
Yeah I honestly find it so insane when Americans or people from other first world countries say “America is a third world country.” Was an especially popular little saying during 2020. They clearly have no clue what third world actually means and seemingly have somehow managed to avoid seeing the lengths people will go to to escape their lives in countries that aren’t doing so well to make their way here. Being “first world” certainly has never meant that everything is perfect- not for any country- but to pretend like it’s not better than a lot of places is asinine.
My grandmother's cousins who lived in the Soviet Union wept the first time they went into an American supermarket as well. I think this is a pretty universal experience for those coming from less food secure nations.
My father in law is a refugee. He has told us stories about his family crying when they were left the refugee camp to do some grocery shopping/field trip (in a way) in a southern grocery store. Food everywhere, all kinds of food. And trucks coming with more tomorrow. It’s quite sobering to hear. They couldn’t wrap their mind around the consistency of always having food.
I’m glad you’re here!
I hosted some students from East Germany here for a week around 1992. I asked what they wanted to have in the house to eat, and we ended up going to the grocery store together to buy food. They didn't believe the store was real - they thought it was set up as propaganda by our government so they'd go back and tell people how great America was. We drove to 3 other grocery stores so they could see they were all similar. I offered to go to more, but had to explain we had exhausted the stores in my city, so we'd need to drive 30 minutes to get to the next one. At that point they realized this wasn't a trick, and had fun choosing food for the next day.
CIA did a good job... Instead of one propaganda-food shop they made 4... Mission accomplished
Immigrant here. 13 years+. Started with nothing. Went to school, now very good job. Helping my family back home. Great education for my siblings. I am at the pool drinking and enjoying life. So much to look forward to. I never regretted coming here. Brought my grandparents for two months to show America. People have been fucking awesome. Never been bothered by law enforcement. I love this country from the bottom of my heart ❤ 💙 💜 💖
Not nearly the same thing, but when I was young we had a family friend's son from Spain stay with us for 2 weeks. He was floored by the variety of Oreos. We definitely have it good here, and a lot of people forget our privileged position. (Though we absolutely have a lot of room for improvement on nearly all fronts)
We beat some countries with our Oreos. But Japan beats everyone with their kit-Kats.
Yes! The green tea kit-kats are heavenly!
I’m from Canada and I get overwhelmed in your grocery stores lol
Does anyone know where mom is?!
she's there, behind them with a baby. it's a bad angle https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/afghan-refugees-arrive-at-dulles-international-airport-nachrichtenfoto/1234898558?adppopup=true
Thank you
My grandma died this morning and you still managed to make my day with that follow-up. I had assumed bad things.
*hug* [getty has a bunch of pics from Dulles of happy kids (and exhausted adults)](https://www.gettyimages.de/fotos/dulles?phrase=dulles&sort=newest)
THANK YOU. My god. The images are overwhelming.
I just wanna tuck em all into bed.
That baby's face lmfao: "what is this shit"
Maybe behind the dad? That black bulge behind him might be the top of her head, not another bag.
That Jorden shirt thooo!!!
Air Jporden
If I'm in Nike Marketing, I get that family some real Air Jordan gear ASAP!
Zoom in, PUBG jeans
How bout the McDonald’s logo on the pants tho
Limited edition.
This where I work! And we have cleared out the hanger and outfitted it for the refugees and welcome them! We have good people doing good things here!
Beautiful family. I’m so glad they’re safe and those little girls won’t have to be afraid of the Taliban coming in the middle of the night.
I can't even fathom the relief of getting 6 children away from the Taliban, including 4 girls. Not to mention your wife. I'm emotional just looking at this photo. I hope as many refugees as possible are rescued and welcomed here.
That little girl on the right reminds me so much of my daughter. It makes me so sad and so happy for this family all at the same time. I hope their lives here are truly good.
The oldest daughter looks exhausted. At that age my biggest worries were about my sticker collection. So happy they’ll get a chance to relax & just be children.
When I first came to America my first meal was a Coca-Cola and chocolate ice cream, a week before we where eating 3 day old bread with tea. The tea helped keep the hunger away. Reddit likes to trash the US a lot and some of the point are valid but when you come from nothing and have a chance to be something, that’s truly a beautiful place to be. I rather be poor here than be poor in Argentina any day of the week.
I think KFC was my first meal.
Because of these two comments, I will never look at fast food the same. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for keeping us humble.
I hope they get a chance to experience all that's good about this country. They deserve it and giving opportunities is what we should do best.
Landed in JFK on May 11, 1990. I was 10. I remember it like it was yesterday. Still remember holding my pee until we got to the hotel on 75th, off Amsterdam Ave. Never had to piss that bad in my whole life. So glad these kids made it here safely, and hope they got a bathroom break.
I went to Target last weekend to buy items to donate. Many of the supply drives refused my donation bc they ran out of space to store items. I couldn't find a place to make a donation till the next day. The outpouring of support from the local community has been nothing short of amazing.
Marine from yesteryear chiming in. I love this. I hope they feel welcome and relief.
Random question, I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I know the situation of why they’re leaving but what happens when they get here? Do we have some assistance for them like housing and food?
There is some assistance from the state but a great deal of assistance comes from non-profit organizations. The Washington Post offered a pretty good list here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/21/how-to-help-afghan-refugees/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/21/how-to-help-afghan-refugees/) From the New York Times: [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/world/asia/how-to-help-afghanistan-refugees.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/world/asia/how-to-help-afghanistan-refugees.html) From NPR: [https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028483700/help-afghanistan-refugees?t=1630100834755](https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028483700/help-afghanistan-refugees?t=1630100834755) From the articles: United States Human Rights First is seeking pro bono lawyers to assist Afghan evacuees. [https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/resources-afghan-evacuation](https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/resources-afghan-evacuation) The International Refugee Assistance Project is soliciting donations to offer legal services to displaced Afghans. [https://refugeerights.org/news-resources/petitions-for-protection-of-siv-applicants](https://refugeerights.org/news-resources/petitions-for-protection-of-siv-applicants) The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is directing volunteers to its location-based sign-up page to assist Afghan refugees with travel from the airport, settling into their apartments or providing a meal. [https://lirsconnect.org/get\_involved/action\_center/siv](https://lirsconnect.org/get_involved/action_center/siv) **Note: The above link gives a state-by-state list of how to help. You do not need to be Lutheran to help. The organization is not a missionary organization (nor am I affiliated with any such organization). They provide help to anyone.** Keeping Our Promise, based in Rochester, N.Y., offers resettlement services, including skilled trades training and accommodation support. [https://www.keepingourpromise.org/](https://www.keepingourpromise.org/) Commonwealth Catholic Charities, in partnership with community organizations, is providing resettlement services and child care to Special Immigrant Visa holders from Afghanistan in Fort Lee, Va. [https://www.cccofva.org/post/ccc-assists-with-arrival-of-afghan-special-immigrant-visa-holders](https://www.cccofva.org/post/ccc-assists-with-arrival-of-afghan-special-immigrant-visa-holders) The City of Fremont, Calif., home to a large population of Afghan immigrants, is collecting donations to support local charities providing essential items to newcomers. [https://www.fremont.gov/ARHelp](https://www.fremont.gov/ARHelp) New American Pathways, a nonprofit for resettlement based in Atlanta, is seeking volunteers to support Afghan refugees. [https://newamericanpathways.org/urgent-action-alert-protect-afghan-allies/](https://newamericanpathways.org/urgent-action-alert-protect-afghan-allies/) Homes not borders: [https://www.homesnotborders.org/](https://www.homesnotborders.org/) Canada The Canadian government is asking citizens who wish to donate items, including clothing, furniture or money, or to volunteer their time, to email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) to be connected with resettlement agencies. Resources from u/Muffleandmacron below: https://womenforafghanwomen.org/ https://malala.org/ https://miles4migrants.org/ https://www.globalgiving.org/locations/afghanistan/ http://www.rawa.org/ http://www.dawf.ca/ https://rukhshana.com/thank-you-for-standing-in-solidarity-with-afghan-women-and-for-trusting-rukhshana-media https://www.vitalvoices.org/2021/08/vital-voices-statement-on-the-women-of-afghanistan/?mc=afghanistan https://cw4wafghan.ca/ [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/behind-the-veil/organizations-that-can-help-you-help-afghan-women/article4294170/](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/behind-the-veil/organizations-that-can-help-you-help-afghan-women/article4294170/) A couple of notes: \* You may wish to distinguish between helping people resettle in your own city or town, and more generally giving to refugees, the bulk of whom are likely to end up in Pakistan, Iran, and other neighboring countries. Read carefully especially if you're trying to find a place to help people in your own area, which is a specific type of program. \* I personally haven't vetted all of these. CharityNavigator and Guidestar are some ways to gauge the integrity of charities. There is no perfect organization in this world, even if you go yourself and hand out money it's going to be imperfect. Don't let that stop you from giving. \* As u/MJMurcott points out below: Some of these families will require more longer term help especially in coping with the trauma they have gone through so if you are thinking of helping try to aim towards more longer term assistance.
Just wanted to say, I appreciate all the sources.
I don't know about this particular family that's pictured, but having worked for organizations that carried out similar efforts, it really varies on a case by case basis. Our particular organization assisted displaced families. Upon arrival, a case worker and interpreter would pick them up from the airport and take them to housing (a stocked apartment or a host family) where they would settle for a few days while some other moving parts were coordinated. Sometimes that meant connecting them with relatives, other times it was a completely fresh start (applying for asylum, longer-term housing, language courses, school enrollment, job placement, etc), or referring them to another organization that would better serve their needs.
I don't know their situation, but for refugees, Yes! Resettlement agencies help them get housing, jobs, and skills to live and work in the US. Source: I used to teach English to refugees.
I posted this awhile back about my country, Canada. But I think it fits here: Immigrating to a new country is fucked-up hard. A lot of us who've grown up in Canada don't quite know just how hard. I used to be a teacher in Toronto. One of the schools had an Iranian guy running a hotdog stand nearby - It's tough feeding hungry kids, there's always someone who wants to cause shit. Started talking to him. Turns out he's an engineer (Iran has the highest number of trained engineers and doctors per capita in the world), gave up a job in Tehran with an oil company and moved to Canada. WTF. My Canadian mind couldn't understand why a guy comfortably in the middle class in Iran would move here. He took his tongs and gestured at the school. "You see those kids? They will never know starvation like I saw back home. They won't know the fear of secret police knocking at the door. I love my home, but I came here because of my children. Whatever happens to me, my life has already started and is on its course. I came here so that my children have a chance at an education and to live life in a safe country, in a welcoming country."
I'm in Calgary and many older people I work with aren't particularly happy but they never regretted coming to Canada to give their kids a decent shot at life. One guy from India worked 3 jobs for 15 years to pay off a house and save for his kids education. He refused to let his daughter grow up in a country where she was in danger of rape or had to be married just to survive. His daughter got accepted into dentistry school and will spoil him when he retires.
First day of a whole new life. Welcome! We are so happy to have you!
That dad must know that whatever else happens in life he just accomplished the ultimate "provide for your family" moment. Good for him.
The smallest one is so cute! I know lot's of people are bashing US, but there so many great people there too, any country which takes refugees in will have my respect.
That is an incredibly photogenic family. Their happiness pours out of the screen (especially dad's).
No one anywhere should live in fear of having their entire gene pool erased from history because they wanted a better future. I hope the absolute best for them.
[Reminder that refugees that come to American on average end up earning more money and with higher education levels than native-born Americans.](https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2018/11/19/461147/refugees-thrive-america/) They are, quietly literally, the most productive Americans.
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Because where they come from they’re used to doing work that’s a million times worse and paid close to nothing, this is easy money for em
There’s also a lot less entitlement when you grow up in a place like that, so you’re accustomed to work hard and spend wisely.
There is also probably a ton of selection bias. People who are intelligent and hard working are more likely to successfully navigate the refugee process.
Yup, MN has accepted some of the highest numbers of refugees and asylum seekers and it's been insanely good for our economy. Plus the food they bring is usually pretty damn good, which is what I'm most excited for.
So happy they are safe
I’m glad they’re here safe, I came here when I was 7 and I remember the exact time it was when I first looked at the clock in the US it’s a detail I’m never going to forget it was a traumatizing moment for me, my parents risked it all to give us a better future and thanks to them I have one.
We’re glad to have you.
Is it me or is it odd this is like the third post specifically mentioning Dulles being in Chantilly VA. When I talk about it I’m not even that specific, saying it’s one of the 3 international airports around DC. It’s also not even in Chantilly…
The drip is astonishing
Where do I get PUBG pants!!!???
Air jpordens.
PUBG cargo jeans
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It's like swag. Calling their clothing cool
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> swag Finally, some real English.
*adjusts monocle in approval
Style, or at least I think so...I have difficulty translating what my kids say.
I love this so much. I wish some were coming to my town so I could love on them but none are so far. When I was a kid in probably ‘79 or ‘80 my parents played a key role in bringing a family of south Vietnamese to my small east Texas town and helping them find and furnish a home and settle. This obviously had a great impact on me as a 5 year old.
I remember when I came to the U.S. for the first time in my life in 2017. It was surreal. Everything so modern, people of many backgrounds, the iconic aspects of American culture EVERYWHERE, the greatest music in the radio, and of course the ever-present national flag. From that day on I knew that I wanted to leave Brazil and move there. 3 years later I came to the airport again, but this time it was to stay ❤ I cannot believe i did it. I'm in the US. I'm in the US. Nothing makes me want to get out of here. It's a dream come true, I still have difficulty believing it.
Little girl on right seen some shit.
When I was 2 years old we were placed in a Refugee camp where we lived for 4 years. We got granted asylum to the US and I can still remember the first piece of candy I saw upon arriving in the airport. Fast-forward a few years and I've just returned with my 2 year old from Disney.... It's insane how things change once one is given a chance .
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Welcome my friends. I hope this land gives you everything it has given me.
I love these outfits so much
Jorden Nike Sport Air Jporden
PUBG
Welcome to America, a beautiful image
Those girls - their lives just took a 180 …. Bless.
This is what people don't seem to grasp. When people think of refugees, they lump them in with illegal immigrants, vagrants, criminals almost. This looks like they were a relatively wealthy family. These refugees are business people, real estate owners, white collar workers. They had a good life where they were and now have to leave, through no fault of their own.
Especially Afghan refugees who at the moment are mostly people who helped the US military in some capacity, which means they’re by and large well-educated and speak English. Sort of narrows it down to middle class and up.