Afghan refugee reflects on new life in Asheville

Like many other Afghans who arrived in the United States after the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021, Farzad had to flee hi home country suddenly.

That fall, he touched down at Asheville Regional Airport, after an initial stint at an American military base. Farzad is a pseudonym to protect him and his family.

“When they said you’re going to Asheville, North Carolina, I thought, ‘OK, when I go over, there is nobody helping,” he tells Xpress during an interview at Pisgah Legal Services (PLS). He continues, “You don’t have money — nothing. It was very hard. When I arrived to the airport, I was confused where I’m going.”

Farzad, who is in his 20s, was met at Asheville’s airport by a caseworker from Catholic Charities, a resettlement agency, who took him to a hotel for his first night. Thus, his new life in America began.

Three years later, Xpress checked in with Farzad and his PLS team to discuss his resettlement experience in Asheville.

Getting settled

On the military base, which was his initial stop in the U.S., Farzad received security vetting and medical exams. His first few weeks in Asheville were a flurry of activity, in which he received intensive case management for 90 days from Catholic Charities. Their caseworkers helped Farzad attain Social Security identification and initial work authorization, which helped him find employment.

Catholic Charities placed Farzad with a local family, with whom he lived for a year. “Everything was brand new for me,” he says. “I start from zero. My English was not perfect. I don’t have job. Like, nothing.” The family helped him with money, food and clothes, he explains. He still refers to the woman from the family as his “sister.”

Farzad, a college graduate, speaks Pashtu and Dari. Prior to his arrival in the U.S., he also knew some basic English. Once in Asheville, Catholic Charities helped him enroll in English as a second language (ESL) classes at a community college. He says he’s also improved his English by watching American movies with subtitles.

Over the previous three years, he’s held a variety of jobs, including a position as a dishwasher, a commercial trucker and a role at East Fork Pottery Co.(The company employs people who have been impacted by systemic oppression.)

In August, he began training in aviation. “My great ambition is to be a pilot,” he tells Xpress.

Along with his ongoing education and work experiences, Farzad has been learning about the nuances of American culture. For example, in Afghanistan, he says it’s not considered rude to comment on someone’s body size, whereas in the U.S., that can be dicey. There was unfamiliar infrastructure he had to get accustomed to, like crosswalk signals. He’s also adjusting culinarily.

“I love American food, especially mashed potatoes,” Farzad says. The local family he initially stayed with introduced him to the orange-flavored soft drink Fanta (and taught him the Fanta jingle, “Don’t you want a, want a Fanta”). He also drinks a lot of green tea, which is a staple in Afghanistan.

“In my experience working with our Afghan clients, they are very disappointed in the tea [in the U.S.],” says PLS pro bono services program director Max Gibbons. Amid laughter from the PLS staff, Farzad tactfully agrees the tea is better in Afghanistan.

‘My best friend’

In spring 2022, PLS began working with Farzad on his immigration petition.

PLS has helped 79 Afghan evacuees brought to WNC, says spokesperson Evie White. Of those, 54 have remained in Western North Carolina.

Bob Clifford — one of many attorneys PLS sought to help Afghans with asylum paperwork — has been a sounding board, shepherd and friend. “I told my story to Bob — all my story,” Farzad says. Clifford helped him prepare his asylum petition and filed the application in July 2022.

When Farzad had his asylum interview in Washington, D.C., he needed to be there for only two nights. But Clifford had an idea. “Bob said, ‘You can stay more nights and then you can eat more Afghan food,” Farzad says. “Then he paid from his pocket for my hotel.” They stayed for a couple extra nights in the D.C. area, which allowed Farzad to eat at several Afghan restaurants in Arlington. They also visited the U.S. Capitol building and saw the White House, and Farzad rode the metro for the first time.

“I love Bob — he is my attorney and my best friend,” Farzad says. He was granted asylum in April 2023 and has a pending green card application.

Farzad also credits Noele Aabye, a case worker from Catholic Charities, with helping him connect with cultural-specific resources in WNC. She helped him to find a mosque, people to worship with, and places to shop for halal food — both locally at Ingles and at specialty markets in South Carolina. According to Islamic dietary law, meat needs to be slaughtered a certain way.

Afghans and Ukrainians

Lutheran Services Carolinas (LSC) is another social services organization helping resettle those evacuated from Afghanistan. And, as the war in Ukraine has endured, it is helping Ukrainian refugees as well.

Resettlement director Hanna DeMarcus says LSC opened an office in Asheville in January 2022 to aid with the U.S. Afghan Placement and Assistance Program.

Of the 87 Afghans LSC has worked with, approximately half remain in WNC, DeMarcus says. Similar to Farzad’s experience with Catholic Charities, LSC had an intensive initial involvement. It helped Afghans locate initial housing, sign up for social service benefits like Medicaid, food stamps and enroll children in schools.

Over the past two years, DeMarcus has watched the resettled Afghans advance from their first jobs in WNC to better-paying ones. Some have even purchased vehicles.

Beginning in June 2022, LSC started serving Ukrainians, so far working with over 300 people.

While many Afghans were Taliban targets because of their jobs, people fleeing Ukraine resettled in the U.S. seeking  safety, DeMarcus said.

The Ukrainians are emigrating through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services program called United for Ukraine. The program allows  U.S.-based immediate family members to sponsor an individual or a family. “Asheville has a very large Eastern European community, so a lot of Ukrainians came here to rejoin friends and family,” DeMarcus says.