The Journey to Asylum team is excited to announce the pending arrival of our next family. Stephen and Gloria will likely be arriving next week. We served as their sponsors on their humanitarian parole application, and after several weeks and additional outreach to border patrol, their application was approved. They were processed through the border on Wednesday and will likely arrive in Williamsburg sometime next week. The couple, who is expecting a baby in the spring, is from Nigeria. After fleeing violence in their country, they made their way to our southern border and have been stuck in Tijuana for what we think has been nearly two years. In addition to the significant trauma they experienced in their home country, they continued to experience a great amount of discrimination and maltreatment throughout their journey to the border.
During the first few weeks, we will be giving them time and space to settle in and will be assisting them with immediately necessary things like a safety training, tour of grocery stores, doctor and vaccination appointments, and some administrative pieces. We know the congregation will be eager to meet them, and as soon as they are settled in and comfortable, we will arrange an opportunity.
On another exciting note, Journey to Asylum has been asked by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) and the Congregational Accompaniment Program for Asylum Seekers (CAPAS) to participate in a life-saving mission that they are undertaking. There are four Afghan youth who were separated from their families at the Kabul airport. The children made it onto planes to the U.S., but their families did not. These unaccompanied youth are currently in a shelter in Pennsylvania, but their families in Afghanistan are in grave danger. The UUSC has mounted a rescue mission in partnership with Vecina (a legal advocacy organization). In order for Afghans to be granted humanitarian parole, they must have sponsors that agree to house them for 3-4 weeks until government resettlement benefits are enacted after their arrival. We are working with community partners and other faith groups in Williamsburg and beyond to identify sponsors who could provide short-term housing to the families. The Williamsburg Friends Meeting (Quakers) have agreed to host one family and we are talking with several other groups. If you know of anyone who has a property that is currently vacant or other space that could accommodate a large family, please get in touch with us at asylum@wuu.org. If and when these families would arrive is still unknown, but we are honored to be asked to be part of this life-saving effort and continue the UUSC’s original mission of rescuing persecuted people.
And, finally, UUSC invites you to join them on Zoom for their Virtual Human Rights Leadership Celebration recognizing International Human Rights Day on Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 7:00 PM. Journey to Asylum will be featured in a new video about the work of the CAPAS program. Register here.
We invite everyone to join us for a cafe conversation this Sunday after the service to hear more. If you are interested in volunteering with Journey to Asylum, please email us at asylum@wuu.org. We also welcome donations to support all aspects of our work. Donate by clicking here.