I have recently had the opportunity to meet several families who have been relocated to Oklahoma from their home country of Afghanistan. Most of them have shared harrowing stories of how they got here – the months of living in less-than-ideal places, small quarters, makeshift spaces, and temporary housing on military bases. Some have even shared terrifying accounts of the Taliban invading their community and getting a frantic call from a family member with instructions to pack quickly and come to the airport immediately to be evacuated.
These stories, all heartbreaking, don’t even begin to convey the difficulty of leaving your home, your country, your possessions, your friends and family, everything you know, and taken to a new place. Then to arrive with little more than the clothes you’re wearing to a whole new place with unfamiliar smells and a different culture, new language and no friends or familiar touchpoints at all. I can’t begin to understand the trauma. Yet every Afghan neighbor I have met has offered me a smile, a handshake, a hug. They have insisted that I sit in their modest homes on a floor cushion or simple furniture. They offer hot tea, and food – always food – and many smiles when we can’t understand each other’s language, as if to comfort and welcome me.
I am also struck by the kindness of local sponsors – new friends – who have stepped up to bring essentials like chairs and tables, diapers and shoes, cloth and sewing machines. Simple things, but so important for these Afghan people making a new life here in Oklahoma. Even more important, they have learned their new friends’ names and faces and those of their children. They have shared a meal, shown them around the neighborhood and taken them to the store and doctor’s office. They have listened and learned as much as they’ve taught. They share comfort and even a few laughs. They have shown love and become friends.
These new bonds that have formed truly embody the words of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: patience, kindness, humility. No resentment, not pushing one way, rejoicing in good things. Bearing all things, believing all things, hoping, and enduring all things. This is what the world needs right now. This is love.
– Lori Hall, Executive Director of Missions
