Walking With Our Newest Neighbors

By Chelsea Klinkebiel

This past May, during a long, hot graduation ceremony, I sat next to my colleague, Kristie. She is a professor in the Math department at Nebraska Wesleyan and is an all-around amazing human being. In addition to the many things Kristie does, she has been assisting recently arrived families from Afghanistan for several years, and I mentioned to her that my daughter and I could likely visit a family needing to practice English. Over the summer and into the fall, visiting one family turned into visiting four families.  

In June, I received an urgent message from Kristie about another family who had recently arrived in Lincoln and, like many fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, arrived with little notice and few resources. In her words: “They will need everything, especially people to walk with them.” Families recently arriving in Lincoln from Afghanistan do truly need “everything,” including but not limited to assistance finding housing, transportation, medical care, employment, school registration, food, household goods, and simply navigating the everyday tasks and errands, often in a language other than English.  

It feels important to share some experiences I have had walking with a few Afghan families in Lincoln in this current moment. I will attempt to decenter myself in their stories but will describe experiences from my point of view to protect their privacy.

• Each family has a story that involves being persecuted by the Taliban. Many adults lost their fathers to this regime, their children casually telling me how their grandfathers were murdered, and I imagine stories like this are commonplace in their communities. Each of the fathers in these families assisted the U.S. government or military in one way or another, with many of them literally putting their lives on the line to protect U.S. citizens. Many fathers left behind skilled jobs in their home country. When they arrive in the U.S., they often take on the jobs that are available to them with limited English. This often includes shift work, physical labor, low wages, and minimal benefits. 

• Each family also has stories of fear and desperation as they attempted to flee Afghanistan. Some families traveled back and forth to bordering countries multiple times to obtain legal documents, moving through checkpoints with papers and photos that risked their lives. Most of us have never had to arrange flights across the world last-minute for a large family before travel documents expire, but you might be able to imagine the price of that airfare. For this reason, many families take on tens of thousands of dollars of debt (at a minimum) during this process and must pay back travel loans once they arrive in the U.S., adding to the challenges they must navigate. 

• The oldest children in these families are often the first to learn English and to navigate things that no child or teenager should have to navigate, such as the family’s finances, government benefits, and the U.S. immigration system. They end up interpreting during urgent medical appointments and procedures when no one else can, and they remain on call 24/7 to interpret for their families in person and over the phone. They must often put their own interests and personal time on hold to help their family members, and they face significant stress and anxiety. These children deserve better, but their families often face no other choice. 

• They love America and are among the most patriotic individuals I have ever met. They are tremendously grateful to the U.S., and they desire to follow the laws and regulations here. Although there have been high-profile stories recently about fraud and government benefits involving a very small group of people (I should add that some of these stories are simply not true), refugees are very vulnerable to crime and fraud. Just this week, many of the Afghan families I know had the entirety of their January SNAP benefits stolen in a skimming operation. They almost certainly will not get this money back. 

• I have learned that the organizations and institutions that support immigrants and refugees in Lincoln are nothing short of amazing. I was impressed but not particularly surprised that Lincoln Public Schools was well-prepared to welcome a newly arrived family, seamlessly integrating the children into their community. Other organizations that have readily welcomed and assisted these families include Lutheran Family Services, the Health Department, the Good Neighbor Community Center, Lincoln Literacy, the Asian Community and Cultural Center, Clinic with a Heart, and many others. However, I have witnessed firsthand that these systems are encountering an overwhelming need that will become even greater this next year. Funding and staffing cuts to resettlement agencies mean that much of the work helping families to get settled is done by unpaid volunteers who simply step up and give their time and resources. As you may be aware, there are also devastating consequences of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” and other recent policy changes from a cruel administration. 

•  Many refugee families have lost and will be losing their SNAP benefits, and many will lose their Medicaid coverage this year. Like most of America, refugees cannot afford private health insurance, and their health and well-being will suffer tremendously.   

• At the time of this writing, the recent travel ban for Afghan nationals has led to officials being instructed to refuse all Afghan visa applications, including those with a Special Immigrant Visa (those who have aided the U.S. government or military and are facing danger in their home country). I recently learned that consular officials were also instructed to destroy visas that were already awarded and printed but not delivered. This recent policy also involves a pause on all immigration applications for people in about 40 countries, which also impacts the individuals living here who need to renew their legal status and work authorizations. This is not the way our allies who risked their lives for us (or any other human being, for that matter) should be treated.  

Many days feel full of bad news and despair, but I want to end by sharing some beautiful experiences that have given me hope: 

• I got to accompany R to his first day of middle school drop-off in August. He had been in the U.S. for fewer than two months at this time. He is small for his age, and middle school seemed like such a daunting step for him. His father talked to him nearly the entire way there. I had picked up on enough Pashto by this time to understand that he was laying out his expectations for his son’s behavior at school, each phrase followed up by the Pashto word “ho?” (okay?) and R stating that he understood. When we got to the school, I watched nervously as R walked in and hesitated with the first task, stating his name. He looked back at me and his father and then confidently stated, “My name is _____.” He then smiled slightly and walked in. R is now rocking 6th grade and absolutely loves school

  

  
  

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• One evening while bringing a family a needed prescription, I walked in on the father of the family reciting the Quran, with everyone else singing in response. I hesitated at the door, feeling like I was interrupting something sacred, but they motioned for me to sit on the rug and eat (they had finished their meal). I was soon overcome by the beauty of their song and their earnest prayers and deeply moved by the family’s devotion to their faith and to one another.  As soon as they finished, they all exclaimed, “Chelsea!” and began fussing over me, making sure I had plenty to eat and drink.  

• • During a very long dental appointment for her mother, I held baby H, who is entering the age of separation anxiety. She now knows me well enough to tolerate being held by me, but this appointment overlapped with her nap time. We played with toys, walked the waiting room, and drank a bottle. As she became tired, she knew she needed her mother. She began crying, and I pulled out all the tricks I had learned with my daughter, including the many variations of bouncing, swaying, rocking, and humming. She fought sleep with one eye on me the entire time, and by the time she finally gave in to sleep and relaxed in my arms, I was sweating and had a numb arm that I didn’t dare move. As I sat down and breathed a sigh of relief, I watched her sleep and realized just how trusting she and her mother were of me. I thought of how vulnerable these families and these children are, and I vowed that I would continue to walk with baby H and her family. 

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  I know many are already working to support these members of our community. I hope we will continue to patronize immigrant-owned businesses, support non-profits that lift up immigrants and refugees, contribute to mutual aid, and directly assist these families. They deserve a community that welcomes them and walks with them during these difficult and uncertain times. If you are interested in receiving updates about policies and ways to advocate for our newest neighbors, I recommend Welcome.US and No One Left Behind (https://www.nooneleft.org) as well as the many organizations in Lincoln that support immigrants and refugees. I also urge you to contact your members of Congress repeatedly to advocate for our neighbors who have done so much for our country. I know that others who have been assisting refugees much longer than I likely have more recommendations, and I encourage you to leave them in the comments below. Thank you for welcoming and walking with our neighbors.