An Afghan family temporarily resettled at Friendly Crossways on Littleton County Road with the help of the Harvard Neighborhood Support Team on Tuesday. Though officially assigned to a Worcester team, the family of nine will stay in Harvard through January as the Worcester group finalizes more permanent housing.
Before arriving in the U.S., the family lived in Kabul, the capital and largest city in Afghanistan—and a place vastly different from Harvard. With children ranging from just under 2 years old to 16, the entire family is adjusting to their new environment—but not without support. Despite the short notice, the Harvard community came together to welcome the family to its temporary home.
The Harvard Neighborhood Support Team includes a diversity of residents, from a mental health professional to a midwife to the Superintendent of Harvard Public Schools, Linda Dwight, who all eagerly search for ways to help the family. Emerson Hospital will register the nine refugees for health benefits on Thursday. “We’ve got people that have been waiting to do something, and now we have an opportunity,” said the group’s co-leader Terry Symula. “And so we will do it—we’ll help them in any way we can.”
In preparation for the family, the team had been reading and listening to podcasts about Afghan culture. But Symula told the Press that it was important to withhold any expectations for the family: The group must get to know them as individuals to determine their unique needs and wishes rather than base their understanding of the family on preconceived ideas.
On their first day, language differences initially challenged the team’s efforts to support the new arrivals. With the family primarily speaking Pashto and Dari, the team resorted to using Google Translate to communicate, resulting in confusion at times. But the arrival of Harvard teens Abigail and Ian Riley “made all the difference,” according to Symula.
With kids their age, the Afghan children quickly bonded, and soon the Google Translate confusion melted into laughter over a shared meal. Symula noted the family’s positive attitude and kind disposition throughout the day. She hopes to enroll the children in the Harvard schools during their stay and to continue bringing the children of NST members to visit.
As this family settles at Friendly Crossways, the team continues to search for more permanent housing to support its own Afghan family in the near future.
Symula says Bromfield House remains an attractive option to accommodate the refugees for a few months, and she reiterates that the team asks for its use only while the house remains empty so as not to disrupt the Bromfield Trust’s plans. Responding to the educational requirement outlined in in the probate court’s position on Margaret Bromfield Blanchard’s will, Symula adds that leasing the house to the refugees will provide a big educational opportunity to both the town and the family itself. Regardless, she said she respects any decision that is made by the trust and the Select Board in the coming weeks.
While the Afghan family’s stay in Harvard has only just begun, the team surrounds them with support. To the family, Symula admitted that compared to Kabul, residents in Harvard “seem so far apart,” but regardless, many are eager to get to know them and to be friendly. Reflecting on her experience with the Neighborhood Support Team, Symula added, “It’s really heartwarming to work on something so positive that everybody you know wants to help.”
Rebecca Zhang is a senior at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and editor of her school’s student newspaper, The Spectrum.
