An urgent push is underway to help resettle Afghan refugees. Right now families are needed to help host and sponsor them once they arrive in the U.S..
Washington State was one of the first to resettle Vietnamese refugees after the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Now Vietnamese Americans here are offering to help.
A group of Vietnamese Americans just launched a local effort to recruit 75 families to host or sponsor 75 Afghan Refugee families. The hope is to give back and help others much like they’ve been helped.
The images in Afghanistan are difficult to process.
And for many Vietnamese Americans, it brings back heartache. Many of their families fled Vietnam as refugees after the Fall of Saigon in 1975.
Thanh Tan is an independent journalist and filmmaker in Seattle.
"My parents are boat people and did not flee until 1978," said Tan. "Vietnamese Americans have this shared history and this shared experience, a shared lived experience that perhaps few others can understand-- losing your country, feeling like the rug has been pulled out underneath or feeling left behind.”
Tan is one of the volunteer organizers of "75 Viets for 75 Afghan Refugee Families Project."
“We feel a responsibility to remember that history and to remind ourselves that we didn’t just appear in America and that was it. Somebody had to help us out and somebody had to help us to adjust. And, somebody had to provide opportunities to our community so we could be where we are today,” said Tan.
As thousands of Afghans flee their homeland, the growing humanitarian crisis is inspiring many to take action.
Jefferey Vu is a Boeing engineer.
“My family came in 1975 as the first wave of refugees,” said Vu.
He has signed onto volunteer.
“I volunteered to host a family and volunteered my apartment actually. So, hopefully, I’ll be able to host a family, and give them privacy in my apartment,” said Vu. “And hopefully, while they’re being hosted, someone is going to let me stay in their place.”
Vu explained why he wants to give back.
“They took a chance on us,” said Vu. “I think we should take a chance. Give the next wave of folks a chance too. We were able to achieve so much and have all the opportunity from all the help we received back then. I really think it’s our moment to do it now.”
Here's how anyone can help.
“People can help by volunteering to host or sponsor a family the first few day they share in the United States and specifically here in Seattle,” said Tan.
Go to the Afghan Health Initiative website. People can fill out a form out to be added to the list of potential host families.
If you want to learn how Vietnamese Americans can help, go to the Viets4Afghans Facebook page.
“I really think it’s our moment to pay it forward, pay forward those acts of kindness that we received when our families arrived in 1975,” said Vu.
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