Afghan family in Indianapolis helped by archdiocesan refugee program

Published: 2003-10-16

INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- Though they are renting a house with plenty of space, the Sharifi family still sleeps together in one room because that way they know where everyone is. Sharifa Sharifi, who lives in Indianapolis with her six children, is from Afghanistan and has received help from a Catholic-run refugee program to start her life over in the United States. She and her children left their country when her husband just disappeared after going into the market in their town of Baghlan. His body was found a week later. Sharifi said the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan at that time, killed him -- probably for the simple reason that he spoke a language they did not like: Persian. After that, she took her children and went to Pakistan for two years. This February the family was able to come to the United States as refugees. Here Sharifi faced new challenges. She has been assisted by the Indianapolis archdiocesan refugee resettlement program, which is part of a larger national effort by the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services to help refugees settle into their new home.

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