January 14, 2022
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Upper Valley communities prepare to welcome Afghan refugees: Regional organizations expect Afghan families to arrive this month, and Dartmouth will bring several students to campus. (Soleil Gaylord | 1/14/22, the Dartmouth)
Four months after the U.S. officially concluded its military withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than 50,000 refugees have been evacuated from the country and resettled in communities across the U.S., including the Upper Valley. Local community members have been providing support to help Afghan refugees settle down and welcoming them to their new homes.260 Afghans are expected to arrive in Vermont by the end of February according to VTDigger, and 50 have arrived in New Hampshire already, New Hampshire Public Radio reports. Many Afghans arriving in New Hampshire have come to the U.S. through a process called humanitarian parole, allowing them to access most services available to refugees but requiring that they achieve asylum to become long-term residents or citizens.Martha Tecca, president of Community Care of Lyme, a community health organization, said that last year her group started to work in the Upper Valley to create a "Welcome Fund" for displaced Afghan families and individuals."My focus has been to welcome as many people as possible and share the tremendous resources that we have here in the Upper Valley," Tecca said. "Right now, we're anticipating a family of 10 and a related family of nine sometime in the next several weeks."
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 14, 2022 8:56 AM