The Ahmadi family thrives

The Ahmadi family at their home in Henrico County

Ahmadi family continues to make strides

The family of three who arrived here from Afghanistan has grown to five

In 2011, when Sultan Ahmadi began receiving strange phone calls and texts, he didn’t take them very seriously. They were more warnings rather than threats. But that would change.

Living in Taliban-controlled Kabul, Ahmadi worked in logistics for a large U.S-based government contractor. “If you know English and technology, you could get a well-paying job,” says Ahmadi. All went well until 2013 when things took an ominous tone. The phone calls and texts became more menacing, and taunts turned to threats.

“They said that I had to stop working for the American infidels,” Ahmadi says. His managers encouraged him to break his routines, change times and routes wherever he went. His work entailed going from village to village to determine just what was needed to get special immigrant visas for local people who were working or had worked for the Americans in Afghanistan.

“People were getting beaten,” says Ahmadi, and kidnappings began accelerating to killings.

Sultan Ahmadi was a logical target. In his job with the U.S. contractor, he helped obtain special immigrant visas for people who had worked for American concerns in Afghanistan. His facility with languages and his willingness to informally serve as an interpreter made Ahmadi doubly valuable to the insurgents. “Regular people like our families have no life there,” says Ahmadi. “They don’t know what will happen today or tomorrow. They are looking for someplace to go if there is any possibility of getting out.”

Ahmadi realized it was time for him and his family to leave Afghanistan.

“It took me three years to get here,” says Ahmadi, sitting in the living room of the West End townhouse he and his wife Nooria recently bought. “We were afraid the whole time.”

When the necessary paperwork finally came through, elation was quickly followed by heartache. Ahmadi could only take immediate family, in his case, Nooria and their toddler daughter Sana. It was painful leaving family behind.

“Somehow, the people of St. Stephen’s appeared as we began our third week here,” says Sultan. The “somehow” was actually through St. Stephens’s affiliation with Commonwealth Catholic Charities, which has a long history of successful refugee resettlement in the Richmond area. James Price, now a member of St. Stephen’s vestry, and Deb Lawrence, who at that time the parish’s director of outreach, were among the first to come to the Ahmadis’ aid, providing a full range of necessities from transportation to school registration.

“Both Sultan and his wife Nooria seemed nervous and anxious at first but were happy to be safe in the U.S. They faced such danger and threats to their lives in Kabul,” says Lawrence. “Sultan’s English was

By Lisa Antonelli Bacon

good, even with a heavy accent, but Nooria was very shy and reserved and spoke no English. In addition to being eight months pregnant with the Ahmadis’ second child, she was scared to leave home and family,” says Lawrence.

“She lacked confidence and seemed so very sad and afraid at times. I can’t imagine coming to a foreign country where you don’t know the language, being homesick, and know you’re going to give birth in a month.”

The Ahmadis welcomed their second child, Yousef, on schedule shortly after they arrived in the states. Their third, Farhan, recently turned three.

Nooria landed a job at a dry cleaner but worked there only a few months before COVID struck. On her own, Price says, she applied for and got a job at McDonald’s. Price was impressed: “She said she wanted to work the window in hopes of improving her English.”

During the Rev. Raby Edwards’ tenure as rector, St. Stephen’s helped resettle the family of Sun Ho Nuon, whose life was in danger because the Khmer Rouge targeted teachers and others considered intellectuals. Once settled in Richmond, Sun Ho eventually joined the parish staff and was St. Stephen’s longest-serving staff member when he retired in 2017 (“From the Killing Fields to the Blessing Fields,” Lent/Easter 2017 Seasons of the Spirit). But it’s been decades since St. Stephen’s staff and parishioners helped a family resettle in the area with this level of involvement.

Just before working with the Ahmadis, Lawrence says, “we did support a couple of other refugee families by collecting and delivering household items and furniture, but our involvement was limited.”

As time went on, Price and Lawrence helped the Ahmadis get their own home, enrolled the children in St. Stephen’s preschool, as well as providing all the needs that come with a major move from one side of the globe to the other.

“It was wonderful and heartwarming to see them flourish – especially Nooria,” says Lawrence. “She came out of her shell and smiled much more often, and both Sultan and Nooria began to find a life here.”

Lawrence says she learned a few things along the way.

“Directly supporting a family like the Ahmadis is intense, timeconsuming and expensive. Volunteer help from parishioners is critical and we were very lucky that a few parishioners became very interested in and attached to the Ahmadis and stay in touch with them to this day. There are so many levels of support needed–housing, employment, transportation, language assistance, medical care, childcare…the list goes on.”

Comfortably settled in their new surroundings, the Ahmadis have begun to build their still relatively new life. Lisa Antonelli Bacon, known locally for her work at STYLE Weekly, has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, CNN Traveller (UK), and Interior Design, covering a variety of topics from the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show to abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. Her broadcast news experience includes reporting for Dateline NBC and MSNBC Investigates. She is the author of Virginia: A Commonwealth Comes of Age.

AFGHAN REFUGEES IN VIRGINIA

The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban last year led to a new wave of refugees, particularly those who provided important assistance to U.S. forces and their allies during the war, putting their lives and the safety of their loved ones in jeopardy.

Last fall, you provided generous support to Afghan refugees housed at Ft. Lee here in central Virginia. Thanks to your gifts, we were able to provide warm clothing and other necessities— filling an entire bus! When other Episcopal churches in the area learned of our efforts, they joined us as well: All Saints’, St. Mary’s, St. Paul’s, and Holy Comforter. Thank you to everyone who participated.

The Ahmadis, who are doing so well thanks in part to support from St. Stephen’s Church, now seek to assist members of their extended family who arrived in the United States last year. These include Khusnood Nabizada, his wife, and their three young children. After arriving in the U.S., the Nabizada family was housed at two different military bases before relocating to the Richmond area, where they are in the process of securing an apartment and seeking employment. Khusnood is fluent in English and his wife is learning.

Like Sultan Ahmadi, Khusnood Nabizada assisted our government during the war. Sultan, as reported in the article by Lisa Antonelli Bacon, received increasingly dire threats before he and his family fled to America. Khusnood was the target of a pipe bomb planted in the family car. Fortunately, he and his daughters—who were in the car with him when the bomb exploded—survived.

The U.S. government is providing some short-term assistance such as a rent subsidy, medical care, and a monthly stipend, but this will not be enough to sustain this family now that they are living in the United States. Ron Brown, our director of outreach, is seeking volunteers to help the family, as well as such things as a reliable car to help Khusnood get to work, and a computer for his school-age children.

If you would like to learn more about how to help, please contact Ron at rbrown@ststephensrva.org or 804.288.2867. –RON BROWN