VOICE YOUR SUPPORT FOR AFGHAN ADJUSTMENT
September 29, 2023

Connecting with Afghan Youth through Art

Afghan art 6
Nova Community College art professor and TSOS Washington DC team member, Annie Gedicks, shares pieces from her personal art portfolio.

It is often our individual talents and passions that lead us to story projects. That was the case when a local organization Nova RAFT (Resettle Afghan Families Together) told us about a group of Afghan youth who were using art to express their experiences from evacuation to resettlement. That germinated an idea of hosting an Art Workshop with TSOS DC-Community Liaison, Annie Gedicks, who teaches art at Nova Community College.

Afghan art 5
The youth gather around for a closer look.

Nova RAFT mobilized community volunteers to help furnish apartments for more than 300 Afghan families between 2021-2022. Many of those families were re-homed near the William Ramsey Recreation Center where the Nova RAFT volunteers continue to support the families with English as a Second Language, paperwork, career guidance, tutoring, and youth activities. The rec center is a bright welcoming place filled with hanging flags from many countries.

There Annie led the creative youth, ages 12-18, in art exercises exploring the themes: creating your own language, identity, and belonging. In the first activity, the children utilized an outline of their hands to express feelings or abstract ideas. One young woman used education as a theme for her hand art, explaining that “education makes everything bright and if we are educated, there will be lots of doors that open to us.” There is hope in their faces and a familial feeling in the group. In fact, they affectionately call Dan Altman, the founder of Nova RAFT “Uncle Dan”.


Another TSOS volunteer, David Merrell, helped lead the youth in a Tunisian Collaborative Art exercise and it was fun to see the children add their own style to the collaborative painting.

Afghan art 3
Dan Altman, founder of Nova RAFT, holds the collective art finished product

Nova RAFT and its sister organization Fresh Start Refugee Assistance Center welcome volunteers and donations to support refugee families in the Alexandria, Virginia area. Consider ways you might get involved.

Nova RAFT
Other Posts

Voice Your Support for Afghan Adjustment

The Afghan Adjustment (AA) has been reintroduced in both the House (H.R.4627) and the Senate (S.2327) of the United States by a bipartisan group of legislators. We invite you to join us in honoring our promise to our Afghan allies by urging your representatives to pass the Afghan Adjustment!

December 6, 2023

Bilingual Representation in Somali Immigrant Communities Strengthens Bonds and Increases Understanding

What would you do if there were no books readily available in your language? Although Somali is the second most spoken language among students in the Seattle Public School system, books in the Somali language have been hard to come by. That is, until Farhiya Mohamed, founder and director of the Seattle-based Somali Family Safety Task Force, had a brilliant idea—to make her own books in the Somali language.

May 24, 2023

Uniting for Ukraine: U.S. Sponsors Needed

Just as citizens in Europe and the U.K. have heroically supported displaced Ukrainians by opening up their homes or securing other housing, assisting with school enrollments, employment needs, and language learning, Americans now have the opportunity via the Welcome.us Sponsor Circles program to directly help newly arrived Ukrainians. The United States has committed to welcoming 100,000 Ukrainians temporarily for a period of two-years and the ability to apply for employment authorization in the U.S. as long as they have a U.S.-based sponsor to petition for them.

January 31, 2023
Add Impact to Your Inbox
Sign up for our emails to get inspiring stories and updates delivered straight to you.
© 2023 Their Story is Our Story Privacy Policy
Their Story is Our Story is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization under the United States Internal Revenue Code. All donations are tax-deductible. Our tax identification number is 812983626.