Jewish Group

Behind the Aegis

(54,852 posts) Mon Sep 6, 2021, 11:22 PM Sep 2021

(Jewish Group) An Afghan refugee struggled to get her family out of the country. She says a Jewish..

An Afghan refugee struggled to get her family out of the country. She says a Jewish group was her lifeline.

Tahera had fallen down in the crush of Afghans pressed against the gate of Kabul’s airport. Her son, 3 years old, was uncontrollable. Her husband’s breathing was uneven. She also had to consider her four other children.

She had a lifeline on the phone: Her supervisor at Jewish Family Services in Seattle.

Cordelia Revells, the director of refugee and immigrant services for JFS Seattle, was on the other end of the line during Tahera’s attempt to get into the airport, helping to get her employee out of the country.

“That was particularly terrifying,” Revells said. “A gun was pointed out at one of her young children when they’re being told they needed to back off.”

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(Jewish Group) An Afghan refugee struggled to get her family out of the country. She says a Jewish.. (Original Post) Behind the Aegis Sep 2021 OP

'When the Taliban came to Kabul, the situation was so terrifying that "my mind was not working," elleng Sep 2021 #1

Thank you for posting this LetMyPeopleVote Sep 2021 #2

elleng

(136,043 posts)

1. 'When the Taliban came to Kabul, the situation was so terrifying that "my mind was not working,"

Reply to Behind the Aegis (Original post)

Mon Sep 6, 2021, 11:30 PM

Sep 2021

Tahera said. But close contact with Revells allowed her to feel safe: “She was in contact with me day and night. And somehow I was feeling that she’s physically with me because she was, all the time, talking with me.”

Seattle’s JFS, driven in part by a mission rooted in the perilous migrations Jews faced in the middle of the last century, was dedicated to getting Tahera home, and has also been tracking and aiding 27 other families as they have attempted to flee the country.

“Several decades ago it was Jewish families desperately trying to flee to safety and people having an opportunity to help them and support them and deciding not to do that, and knowing what happens when you don’t do whatever you can to support your fellow human beings,” Revells said. “I think that makes the Jewish community’s commitment to what these families are experiencing so strong.”

LetMyPeopleVote

(154,421 posts)

2. Thank you for posting this

Reply to Behind the Aegis (Original post)

Tue Sep 7, 2021, 12:05 AM

Sep 2021

This passage in the article cited in the OP hit me hard

Seattle’s JFS, driven in part by a mission rooted in the perilous migrations Jews faced in the middle of the last century, was dedicated to getting Tahera home, and has also been tracking and aiding 27 other families as they have attempted to flee the country.

“Several decades ago it was Jewish families desperately trying to flee to safety and people having an opportunity to help them and support them and deciding not to do that, and knowing what happens when you don’t do whatever you can to support your fellow human beings,” Revells said. “I think that makes the Jewish community’s commitment to what these families are experiencing so strong.”

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