Many who watched the chaotic scenes of the Afghan people struggling to leave the country after the pullout of U.S. troops – including the scene of a large airplane packed with refugees shoulder-to-shoulder – felt a great deal of sympathy for the plight of the families that start all over in a new country. Language is different, making education and job searching a challenge.
One organization that has been helping is Canopy NWA. The organization’s website states: Canopy NWA works to create a community where refugees are welcomed and equipped with all they need to build new lives and thrive. At the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, dozens of us from across our community were heartbroken by the images we were seeing of innocent people washing up on the shores of Greece. We wanted to do something to help, but quickly found that there was no way for us to support refugees in Arkansas because there wasn’t a resettlement agency in the state. While other states were taking in thousands of people a year, Arkansas wasn’t effectively taking any. But all across Northwest Arkansas, grassroots interest in welcoming refugees continued to grow. We decided to get organized and see how we could get involved as a community.”
Currently the nonprofit organization based in Fayetteville is helping a number of Afghan refugees displaced by the Taliban to resettle in Northwest Arkansas. Canopy NWA’s goal is to help refugees “thrive as they start to call Arkansas home,” according to Clint Schnekloth, founder and chair of Canopy.
They have resettled refugees from countries across the world, including Rwanda, Uganda, Myanmar and Colombia. As they prepared for the Afghan refugees’ arrival, Canopy staff worked to secure housing, reported Hannah Lee, director of Community Engagement. “We’re making sure their apartments are furnished, and that they have groceries and we’ve also brought on board a case manager specifically to work with our Afghan population,” Lee said.
Lee spoke recently by Zoom to members of the Eureka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (EUUF) who had donated to Canopy NWA to help an Afghan family settle in Northwest Arkansas.
“This $1,200 donation allowed EUUF to become a ‘Household Sponsor,’ enabling Canopy NWA to provide all of the necessary components of resettlement assistance to an Afghan family,” Barbara Doud, social justice coordinator for EUUF, said. “It was a way for EUUF to extend a welcome message to the arriving Afghan refugees.”
During the pandemic, the EUUF has had a program called “redirecting our tithes” where donations of $250 to $350 per month have been given to local non-profits. When members found out the cost of sponsoring one family, additional donations were made to reach the $1,200 total.
Lee said Canopy is working with the U.S. State Department to resettle 150 Afghan refugees in the area.
“It takes a lot to start over in a new country,” Lee said. “Our staff represents a dozen different countries and two dozen languages. These refugees have had to flee their country due to persecution because of their face, religion or political affiliation. These are the most vulnerable individuals on the planet. These are families who had to leave their homes and all they love behind. And sometimes they have had to spend a long time in refugee camps before being resettled. Most of our families from the Congo spent 20-25 years in refugee camps before being resettled here.”
Many of the Afghan families had lived under the first Taliban reign when harsh interpretation of Muslim law led to a ban on educating girls and women working. Men could be severely punished for infractions such as not having a beard. After the U.S. pulled out of the 20-year war—the longest war in the history of the U.S., Afghans who had worked for the U.S. as interpreters or other positions were in danger of being imprisoned or being killed.
Lee said the program works with a representative of Canopy NWA meeting the refugees at the airport where they are transported to housing that includes furnishings and groceries. Families are put into communities with others from their country. Lee said Afghans have a tight-knit social network that helps them when starting their new lives in a foreign country.
For the next six months, case managers work with the families to help integrate them into the society. Children are placed in school and adults are provided with job training, help writing a résumé, employment opportunities and other services.
“We have an amazing track record for putting refugees in a job in their first six months,” Lee said. “We have a wonderful job market in Northwest Arkansas. We put them in jobs so they can become self-sufficient.”
Sometimes people work at a chicken processing plant while they learn the language and get past barriers to going back into the profession they practiced in their home country. For example, a doctor might have to work at an interim job until learning English and getting a medical license in the U.S.
Opportunities to get involved with Canopy NWA are abundant because the organization’s services do not stop at initial resettlement assistance. Canopy staff and volunteers work with families for up to five years to help them adjust to their new home, Lee said. For more information on Canopy NWA, or to make a donation, please go to: canopynwa.org/.