Our Afghan family that Christ the King sponsored in December 2021 has come a long way. Dad has been working. Mom is busy facilitating the family appointments. The oldest daughter graduated from High School in June and is now enrolled at FVTC. The next four children are going to various schools in Appleton. And the baby, well, he is still cute as can be and still repeats his first English word, “Hi Jeff” that I heard 2 years ago. I am so proud of their accomplishments. I am so proud of Christ the King for all that the member partners have done to furnish an empty house to welcome this family and help create a new safe home. I am proud of the community who has received this family into our area.
This family is part of 181 evacuees to the Fox Cities almost 3 years ago. They have had a journey to get here that is quite shocking and worth sharing. What was their childhood like? How did the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan affect them? What has their life been like since leaving Afghanistan? They value education, freedom and democracy. The worked and fought for those ideals in Afghanistan. They joined forces with the United States to build a better future for themselves and their families. That struggle eventually led them to new lives in Appleton.
The History Museum at the Castle along with World Relief Fox Valley has joined forces to interview the Afghan evacuees who were welcomed here. This exhibit is the story of our Afghan neighbors, in their own words.
Eight of these families agreed to be interviewed and share their experiences and stories for this exhibit. They told their personal stories from before the Taliban, during the Taliban takeover, and their emotional evacuation, for their own safety they left everything behind, but the clothes on the back and a few important papers. This is not a media story. These are personal stories of real-life situations that we do not see or hear on the news.
I, along with 7 other members of the CtK Good Neighbor Team were able to be at the unveiling of this exhibit last Wednesday (9.18). It was an emotional and moving exhibit and interview. No words that I can say would come close to the impact I felt during my visit.
I want to invite and encourage everyone to take a couple of hours and visit the History Museum at the Castle to see this exhibit. The museum hours are 10am to 4pm daily.
Jeff Otto
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