Six weeks ago on a cloudy and windy night, a plane landed late in the evening at Sacramento International Airport. A small family huddled together and walked through the airport gate to make a new home in Sacramento, 7,000 miles away from the one they once knew in Afghanistan.
The family of five — Farhat, Adila and their three small children – are the second refugee family The Table has welcomed to the United States. Church volunteers worked around the clock before the family arrived to make their apartment a home. Cupboards were stocked with food. A wheat-colored sofa and a chair were placed in the living room for relaxing evenings. Bunk beds were assembled in the bedroom for the couple’s 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son. And the baby? She got her own “big girl” bed now that she’s 2.
The world around them must seem strange and beautiful, all at the same time. For the family, one point of comfort after being uprooted is a college friend of Farhat’s who lives nearby in Rancho Cordova. He has been in the United States for three years and through his friendship, the family has a cultural ambassador to help navigate the ways of their new country.
Members of The Table are helping the family adjust to their new homeland, too. They’ve helped them sign leases and start up utilities. Greg Eddy drove the family to mandatory health examinations required of refugees. In true Afghan hospitality, the family set a table for him, filled with bread and jams, dried fruit and nuts, and piping hot coffee.
A few weeks ago, Farhat and Adila went through vocational assessments. This past week, their daughter enrolled in first grade, their son in pre-school. Though their dark-haired, 2-year-old with the mop-top haircut still asks where Grandpa is, the family finds comfort in one another when they are missing beloved family left behind in Afghanistan. Family life here is beginning to take shape.
The family looks ahead and envisions what life in Sacramento might look like in time. A proficient English speaker, Farhat will soon search for a job, Adila will enroll in ESL classes, and the children…well, the children, will adapt the quickest, a fact born out by generations of immigrant families before them.