U.S.A.
Page 12 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
January 3, 2022
Immigrants welcome Afghan refugees, inspired by own journeys
By Janie Har
The Associated Press
S
AN JOSE, Calif. — Tram Pham tears up recalling
how tough life was at first in the U.S. But she also
remembers the joy she felt as a 22-year-old refugee
from Vietnam when a nurse spoke to her in her native
language and guided her through a medical screening
required of new arrivals.
Nearly three decades later, Pham hopes to pay that
comfort forward as a registered nurse at the same San
Jose, California, clinic that treated her family. The TB
and Refugee Clinic at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
is screening people from Afghanistan who began seeking
asylum in the U.S. after American troops withdrew from
the country in August.
Pham can’t speak Farsi or Pashto. But she can soothe
patients stressed out over the job they can’t find or the
rent that’s due. The other day, she held the hand of an
older Afghan woman as she cried out her fears.
“I can see patients from all over the world come in. I see,
you know, Vietnamese patients. I see a lot of refugee
patients,” she said. “I see myself.”
The TB and Refugee Clinic joins a vast network of
charities and government organizations tasked with
carrying out President Joe Biden’s plan to relocate nearly
100,000 people from Afghanistan by September 2022.
Nearly 48,000 Afghans have already moved off U.S.
military bases and settled in new communities, the U.S.
Department of State said in an e-mail, including more
than 4,000 in California.
The operation has been hampered by the need to scale
up quickly after steep cutbacks to refugee programs under
President Donald Trump. But the community response
has been overwhelming and enthusiastic, said Krish
O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration
and Refugee Service, one of nine national resettlement
agencies.
“We know that resettlement isn’t a weekslong or
monthslong process. Success requires years of effort. And
so that’s where it’s really important to have strong
community ties,” Vignarajah said.
The nonprofit, which operates in at least two dozen
states, has resettled roughly 6,000 newly arrived Afghans
since summer, including 1,400 in northern Virginia, 350
in Texas, 275 in Washington and Oregon, and 25 in Fargo,
North Dakota.
The state of Oklahoma has received about half of the
1,800 people it was told to expect, said Carly Akard,
spokeswoman for Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City.
Akard said that in their rush to escape, many of the
refugees arrived without identification.
“They fled and didn’t have anything,” she said.
In San Jose, the clinic is scrambling to hire more people
and reallocate staff for the more than 800 people expected
in the county through September. Not only is the number
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FULL CIRCLE. Clinical nurse Tram Pham, left photo, becomes teary eyed remembering how hard it was at first, adjusting to life in the U.S. as a
refugee from Vietnam, at the TB and Refugee Clinic at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California, on December 9, 2021. Nearly three
decades later, Pham is paying that comfort forward as a registered nurse at the same clinic that treated her family. The TB and Refugee Clinic at Santa
Clara Valley Medical Center has started screening people from Afghanistan as part of the largest U.S. refugee resettlement effort in decades. Pictured in
the right photo is public health assistant Nikie Phung. (AP Photos/Eric Risberg)
a large increase from the 100 people the clinic assessed in couldn’t elaborate on her symptoms. Pham, the nurse,
all of the last fiscal year, it is uncertain when they will asked if she could hold her hand. They sat as the woman
sobbed, then finally spoke of the stress of having her
arrive, said health center manager Nelda David.
But David said that won’t stop the staff of roughly three entire family living in a cramped hotel room.
By then, her pains had receded. Pham noticed that the
dozen from rolling out the welcome mat at the clinic,
founded four decades ago specifically to assist Southeast woman’s daughter and son-in-law were upbeat and more
Asians after the Vietnam War. Most of the nurses, comfortable speaking English. She pulled the daughter
assistants, and other staff are immigrants or former aside.
“Would you please spend time with your mom?” she
refugees themselves, and understand the shock of
asked her. “Talk to her more.”
starting over in a new country.
Staff members have gone out of their way to connect
Medical interpreter Jahannaz Afshar welcomes Farsi
speakers at the front door even before they check in for patients to jobs, furnish empty apartments, and tap the
their first visit. In a windowless office, she explains what broader community for rent and other relief. They’ve
to expect over at least four visits as part of a stocked diapers for babies and handed out gift baskets at
comprehensive health assessment, which includes Thanksgiving. During a routine visit, a patient mentioned
updating immunizations and checking for infectious he needed car repairs for work. Within weeks, the clinic
had raised $2,000 to give him.
diseases. A medical exam is required of all refugees.
“Your heart is different,” says Jaspinder Mann, an
But Afshar, who moved from Iran in 2004, also explains
cultural differences, such as the American preference for assistant nurse manager originally from India, of
personal space and chitchat. She’ll tell newcomers how to immigrants’ desire to help.
Afshar says she can’t imagine what refugees are going
take the bus or use the public library, and reassure them
that in the U.S., people help without expectation of getting through. The former apparel designer and her husband
were not fleeing strife and shootings when they chose to
anything in return.
Most staff members are bilingual, and come from a leave Iran. And yet, she too struggled at first.
“And this is one of the things that I always share,” she
number of countries, including China, Myanmar, Sierra
Leone, and Mexico, said Mylene Madrid, who coordinates said. “That even though it’s going to be hard, later you’re
the refugee health assessment program. But staff can going to be happy because ... you’re going to learn so much
and you’re going to grow so much.”
help even without speaking the same language.
At the clinic, she hops on the phone to arrange an eye
An Afghan woman was tense and nervous when she
arrived the other day for her first medical exam. By the exam for Mohammad Attaie, 50, a radio technician who
end of the hourslong visit, however, she was cracking fled the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, this summer with
jokes and sharing photos with public health assistant his wife, Deena, a journalist, and their daughter. Sana,
Nikie Phung, who had fled Vietnam decades earlier with 10, adores her new school in San Jose but the couple worry
about finding work when they can’t speak the language.
her family.
Still, seeing people like Afshar and Pham gives them
Another new arrival from Afghanistan dropped by the
clinic complaining of chest pains but was so anxious she confidence.
“They are successful. They’re working here. Their
language skills are good. I am hoping that in less than a
year I can stand on my feet,” Deena Attaie said, speaking
in Farsi.
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