Zabi Shirzad grew up in a large family in Afghanistan — he has more than 50 nieces and nephews from his eight siblings. He studied law at a local university and, before the hasty U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, he was a defense attorney who did contract work for the State Department. His wife, Hadia, was a teacher, with siblings of her own in the area. The couple lived with their three children, Ahmad, Asra and Yusra in Balkh province in the far north of the country, some 200 miles from the capital, Kabul.
When Kabul fell to the Taliban, the U.S. Embassy evacuated the employees of Zabi Shirzad’s company. The Shirzads landed in Silver Spring, where they found the adjustment to their new home eased by Zabi’s knowledge of English and a warm welcome from the area’s interfaith community, including Tifereth Israel Congregation, in the District.
Two years after their hasty evacuation, the Shirzads live in a two-bedroom apartment. There’s a new baby boy, Muzamil. Zabi said they chose the area because his sister had moved here seven years before.
“It is so difficult for a person who doesn’t have any person here, how to find a job and solve problems,” he said.
Tifereth Israel got involved with the Shirzads though the New Neighbor Interfaith Alliance (NNIA), a volunteer organization consisting of various local faith organizations that come together to support refugees.
Rachel Seidel, of Tifereth Israel, emphasized the importance of Jewish community involvement in this kind of work.
“It’s really important, as a Jew, to be sensitive to the plight of the refugee,” Seidel said, noting how Jews have faced persecution and exile. “It’s a mitzvah to be doing this.”
There’s a whole arsenal of volunteers devoted to support the Shirzad family.
Seidel — originally recruited to babysit the little ones so Hadia could take Zoom English lessons — now recruits other Tifereth Israel members to volunteer, fundraises and researches options to help the family solve problems as they come up, and publicizes the work among the synagogue community. Bob Mathis, another Tifereth Israel congregant, was able to find a camp that would offer full scholarships for Ahmad and Asra so that they wouldn’t be at home all summer.
Acting as the family lead is Joyce Mange, a NNIA volunteer who originally started working with the family as an English tutor. As time went on, she started to take on more responsibilities — like accompanying Hadia to the doctor when she was pregnant with Muzamil, and making sure she was getting proper care.
Mange drove family members, babysat the children, helped Zabi and Hadia with filling out forms.
But the family of six still needed more support. With four children, it was hard for Zabi to focus on work, or Hadia to attend English classes. So Mange reached out to people she knew at Tifereth Israel to see if they wanted to help.
Other congregations chipped in as well. On any given day, Mange says, there are three or four volunteers helping the family in whatever way they can.
For some things, the family didn’t need support. Because of his legal background and knowledge of English, Zabi obtained the family Social Security numbers and green cards. But there were still areas they needed help with. NNIA helped the Shirzad family find and furnish the apartment they now live in. They got the kids enrolled in Rosemary Hills Elementary School. The organization also arranged for diaper and food deliveries, so that the family was adequately stocked.
The goal is that over time the family will become independent. Zabi has a job as a contract worker at a refugee resettlement agency in the area. Hadia just got her learner’s permit to drive and has continued taking classes once a week to learn English, in hopes of getting a job in childcare.
The kids are picking up the language, too. But as important as English is in navigating their new home, Hadia is adamant about the importance of continuing to speak Persian so they don’t forget their old home.
“I speak Persian [to them], not English, because that’s an important language.”
Some of Zabi’s current and previous colleagues live in the area and their children play together. It’s different from Afghanistan, but there is still a semblance of community. ■
Hannah Docter-Loeb is a freelance writer.
