This article was written by Zizi Ellison, iACT’s Refugee Program Specialist

During iACT’s Hope Awards last April, Bushra Abdul Qader who had been a student in our Refugee Program spoke on stage about her experience of adjusting to life in the US and how she found her footing in the Austin community. Bushra and her family were always open and sincere about how grateful they felt for their new life here in the US after various hardships in their native Iraq where her Sudanese husband Idris was already a refugee.

I met Bushra several years ago when I was working as an interpreter and she and I have become good friends. While chatting with her last week I received a photo on my phone. It was of a new baby born to an Afghan first time mother who has only been in Austin for a few months. I had spoken to her a few days before trying to connect the family to services. She and her husband were overwhelmed with all the challenges of arriving in this new country, planning for a first baby born at a hospital where no one spoke her language, and trying to navigate immediate needs in the middle of this pandemic.

When I received the photo of the precious baby girl  I was on the phone with Bushra so I told her about the new family and said I had to hang up to call the mother to congratulate them. I mentioned that the new father had lost his job and they didn’t have anything prepared for the baby.

Bushra called me back a few hours later. She asked if I could share where the Afghan family lived and wanted a list of the family’s needs.  I tried to dissuade her and said I was putting together some donations for the family and that I couldn’t share information without the family’s permission. She asked me to please contact the family, get their consent and ask for a list of their needs. She said that she couldn’t get that new mother out of her mind because when she was pregnant with her 4 year old, she didn’t have any gear for the baby. iACT put a call out for donations while she was in the hospital, and when she got back everything she and little Sara needed was there. She said she was lucky enough to receive support and care when she needed it and she feels she needs to give back.

She made me promise to keep her updated on when the new mom was back home. I spoke to the new mom when she was out of the hospital and told her that a fellow refugee wanted her to make a grocery list.  The mother at first was surprised and felt embarrassed to send me the list. When I insisted, she sent it me and it was my turn to be surprised. They needed so many staples that it was apparent they may not have had any food in their house.

When I got back to Bushra it was almost 7:30 pm and I asked her to wait for the next day since it was already too late and HEB closed at 8 pm. Bushra’s teenagers, Mohamad 18, and Hajar 16 had been keeping tabs on this conversation and insisted that they could run to the nearby convenience store that would still be open. They wouldn’t let their mother go with them and insisted on buying the food and delivering it themselves. When I asked her why they didn’t want her to go with them she said Hajar joked that she wanted to receive all the “ajar” herself – a reference to the Muslim required good deeds as acts of piety. It is Ramadan after all!