Viets for Afghans

📣As we finally come up for air and reflect on the past year, we believe now is the appropriate time to share what our broad coalition of helpers have achieved since we were first moved to action by the stunning imagery and heartbreaking headlines coming out of Afghanistan on and after Aug. 15, 2021. Since then, we’ve learned it’s also important to recognize when the time is right to transition a project’s mission and scope.

Please read our full message at vietsforafghans.org.

Summary:
🪧We're sunsetting our volunteer-run operation and transitioning to advocacy, as needed.
🎓We're sharing learnings from our mutual aid experiences and encouraging our volunteers to continue their humanitarian work independent of Viets for Afghans.
💸We're transferring our remaining funds to our Afghan partners to scale our impact and ensure more refugees can access resources to become self-sufficient.

We have loved seeing communities everywhere mobilize in service of helping refugees. Please don't stop and keep the spirit of Viets for Afghans alive by sharing stories!

🙌🏽 📢
RP

Here is why the is needed & how we as a community can ensure passage.

Utilize the coalition’s toolkit now via link in bio to be part of history.

We are proud to have been one of the first groups to help privately resettle refugees, and are eager to share learnings as the federal government moves forward with an expanded pilot to help more refugees. Many lessons learned. It’s incredibly hard but fulfilling volunteer work.
* We don’t have the bandwidth or capacity to sponsor additional families at this time, but wholeheartedly support and encourage others to step up and get involved.

Here’s an excellent primer:

A private sponsorship program in the United States would offer more refugees a pathway to reach safety and an opportunity for those in the U.S. to lend them a helping hand without being limited by a number set by the government or its failure to reach it.

This week, the Biden administration signed a refugee admissions goal of 125,000 for the next fiscal year and the accompanying Report to Congress highlights the creation of a private sponsorship program as a priority objective.

April 30, 1975. On that day, the last Americans left Vietnam, bringing a 10+ war to an abrupt and chaotic end — and marking the beginning of a mass exodus. Hundreds of thousands of people died trying to flee before the U.S. finally instituted orderly departure programs for its former allies.

August 30, 2021. American forces completely withdraw from Afghanistan after a 20+ year presence in the country. We are watching history repeat itself and allowing needless suffering to persist.

Why?

Pass the and fix the broken and racist humanitarian parole process. Now.

RP We refuse to believe that it is the forever fate of the Afghan people to suffer from conflict and oppression. Let us not forget that the gains Afghanistan made in the past 20 years were largely made possible by the Afghan people themselves and those people remain eager to construct a safer, more prosperous homeland for generations of Afghans to come.

Read Our Full Press Release 🔗 in our LinkTree in Bio or at bit.ly/aaf1year.