Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan a few weeks ago, more than 100,000 Afghans have fled the country, fearing for their lives. Many are currently going through strict immigration and security screening in other countries, like Qatar and Bahrain, but thousands who are further along in their applications for Special Immigrant Visas—which allow interpreters, […]
Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan a few weeks ago, more than 100,000 Afghans have fled the country, fearing for their lives. Many are currently going through strict immigration and security screening in other countries, like Qatar and Bahrain, but thousands who are further along in their applications for Special Immigrant Visas—which allow interpreters, […]
Refugees welcome Over the weekend, activists gathered in downtown Charlottesville to draw attention to the crisis in Afghanistan, where extremist Taliban forces recently seized control of the government following U.S. withdrawal of troops after two decades of war. The activists called for the United States and the Charlottesville area specifically to accept as many Afghan […]
This is a story about sewing machines and a woman who repairs and gives them to Charlottesville’s refugees. That might sound like a paltry gift. But to a refugee who sold her clothes in her home country to help pay for her family’s journey to escape violence, institutionalized misogyny, and possibly death, a sewing machine […]
The 2020 federal fiscal year begins October 1, marking the deadline for Donald Trump’s presidential determination on the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States for resettlement. Virginia has already taken a hit from previous reductions by Trump, with Richmond’s Church World Service—one of nine State Department-designated resettlement agencies in the U.S.—announcing that […]
Sylvan and Sheria Kassondwa’s 860-square foot, three-bedroom apartment would be fine, they say, if they had one or two kids. As it happens, they have five. “In my country, time is not money like here, you can spend more time with your family,” says Sylvan, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. “And […]
Charlottesville chef Gabe Garcia sits at a table in the dimly lit dining room of Kitchen Catering & Events, which he co-owns and operates with his wife, Morgan, also a chef. It’s early evening, cold and drizzly outside, but the air inside is warm and redolent with the smell of a simmering savory soup. Garcia, […]