Immigration

Atlanta continues to rally around those who fled Afghanistan last year

July 15th, 2022

Moms and their kids play at a community event for refugee families. (Photo courtesy of Daniyal Tahir)

Atlanta immigrant advocates are still rallying around the nearly 2,000 Afghans who evacuated to Georgia last year.

One part of that has been supporting pregnant women and new moms who had to leave everything behind.

Toddlers stickered with smiley faces darted among their moms around a conference room full of lively chatter.

Some 60 Afghan moms gathered with the nonprofit New American Pathways and the Atlanta Section of the National Council of Jewish Women as the organizations provided much-needed baby supplies.

Nancy Gaddy, Chief Development Officer for New American Pathways, said some families were having babies for the first time, but because everyone who evacuated from Afghanistan had to rush out, bigger families are finding themselves rebuilding all their kid supplies.

“There’s a woman here today, and this is her seventh child. Normally you would think if you have seven kids, there’s a lot of items that you already have,” she said.

“But most of these people came with absolutely nothing. So it’s starting from scratch, not just for the new babies, but it’s starting from scratch for … toddlers, elementary school kids up to teenagers.”

Last fall when the U.S. government pulled out of Afghanistan, thousands of people were rushed out of the country for their safety.

As new waves of refugees from around the world come to the state, the National Council of Jewish Women – Atlanta Section wanted to make sure the Afghan expecting mothers still had help.

Sherry Frank is a co-president of the organization, and she said NCJW – Atlanta Section worked with local Muslim leaders to learn how to best help the incoming families.

“We reached out to the Islamic speakers bureau to do a training session for us so even when we put together welcome bags, we would know things that we should or shouldn’t put in,” she said.

Families received supplies like diapers, baby wipes and onesies. And because some families are in temporary housing with only showers, some moms received baby bathtubs, too.