EAGLE ROCK, Calif. — One to two times a week, Afghan refugee Wahidullah Asghary and his wife take their four kids to a local park. “An enjoyable time with them, you know, riding bike, just playing around with them together,” he said.
It’s something he doesn’t take for granted. Asghary arrived in Los Angeles with his family one year ago from Kabul, Afghanistan, where he worked for the U.S. military as a translator and office manager in the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, drawing on his previous experience as an English teacher. “Every day was a memory for me there. I just joined them,” he said. “So once they know exactly my experiences and then I found a lot of friends inside and the people were respecting me so much because more than 45 people were working under my supervision,” he said.
But in 2016, a bomb struck part of the building he worked in and Asghary worried they were targeted for working with the U.S. He knew it was time to get his family out. He was able to secure visas but worries about his parents, brother and brother-in-law, who are still stuck in Kabul. “Everybody is trying to leave because they know it is a dark time back again,” he said.
Things for Asghary and his family have been brighter since they arrived in the U.S., with the help of Miry Whitehall. She’s an Eagle Rock mother of two children and she helps resettle refugees through her non-profit Miry’s List. Whitehill and her team create customized welcome kits for arriving families filled with essential supplies like clothing, toiletries, blankets and baby diapers. She’s anticipating a surge from Afghanistan in the coming weeks and raising money for extra supplies through an Emergency Action Fund.
She embarked on this mission four years ago after meeting a Syrian refugee family, who had a baby the same age as her youngest son. “I could just see by looking around that they had things in their house that were missing that would have made it much more functional and comfortable for their family,” Whitehill said. “For example, I didn’t find any towels in their bathroom. They had a crib for their baby, they also had a 5-month old, but they didn’t have a mattress.”
Her maternal instinct kicked in and she got local residents to donate much-needed supplies for the family. Since then, she’s helped over 600 families, not only get settled, but also rebuild their lives with services like English tutoring, career development and social gatherings. “We are asking, 'what do you need?' This is how we can counteract the effects of a traumatic migration experience and that is what is happening right now,” Whitehill said.
It starts with a warm message that families see when they open the box. “These are welcome letters,” she said, pulling out several hand-written cards and reading one of them. “I hope you enjoy the original art on this card. They are the birds you will see in North America.”
Asghary also helps arriving families by enrolling them English classes through Miry’s List. As for his own family, he’s hopeful about their future and plans to earn a college degree and get a job. But there’s something that still worries him. “The loved ones that we have in Afghanistan right now — we are just a little bit worried about them and once they are here, they make it and our stress will go away,” he said.