09/01/2025
Okay folks - Due to so much discouraging news, I have not been posting for WCIF. There have been a lot of ups and downs this last year. So, here's a little update:
We have had 2 families close to sponsorship, with commitments for visas given from UNHCR and then a Diversity Visa from the US for the second family...and then, at the last minute, total rejection. The first family is still in Nairobi, the second Afghan family is in hiding in Pakistan. These are not safe places and the family in Pakistan writes almost daily about their situation... where they have to leave the apartment all day, with their 2 little girls, to avoid getting rounded up by the Pakistani police.
Both families write, not about the lack of access to simple amenities or flooding (Pakistan), but about how much they just want education for their kids. It's killing these parents to have their children out of school.
We had been hopeful to get the second family out earlier this year, then extremely disappointed with the travel ban, just after passing interviews their visas (though that was not the only hindrance). Jeremias and I paid for the visas. Is the US going to give back the $2,500 of our personal savings? Not a chance.
I have been looking for an immigration lawyer to help (pro bono) but there's really nothing we can do... the US isn't a friendly nation to immigrate to right now anyways. It's really hard to know what to say to these families at this point, while trying to keep their spirits up.
We have been talking about giving the funds we fundraised, through all of you great folks out there, to Bridge Builders of IF and then dissolving WCIF. Then, at least we can help support the Afghan folks already here in IF. (The wives of the pilots who were able to get to the US can use it for school.)
That's an update for y'all.
Any thoughts?
