Learning more about Afghan culture was Randy Frank’s goal Friday evening.
The commander of the Kansas American Legion was in Little Apple for the Manhattan Area Resettlement Team’s (MART) fundraising dinner. Pearce-Keller Post 17 in Manhattan hosted the dinner as part of its effort to recognize and appreciate Afghans who have relocated to the Flint Hills following the Taliban takeover of their country in 2021.
Frank was appointed as commander of the Kansas American Legion last summer, and he said he wants to learn as much as he can about Afghans who now call Kansas home.
“I know Post 17 has been doing this for some time; I just haven’t been to any of their events yet,” Frank said. “With my service in the military, I traveled around to a lot of places. I don’t know much about (Afghan) culture.”
Frank said it’s important to support Afghans coming to the U.S. and Kansas because “they were our allies” during the two-decade War in Afghanistan, which ended in August 2021 with the evacuation of armed forces from the region. Many Afghans who worked for U.S. and allied forces found themselves left behind as thousands tried to leave on departing flights from the Kabul airport.
Today, many Afghans living in Kansas and the U.S. are still trying to bring their extended families to America.
“They are veterans to us as well, as we see them,” Frank said, “and in the American Legion, we help all veterans. They helped us; we will help them.”
Local Afghan women prepared the evening’s food. They are part of the Hazara group, a religious and ethnic minority in Afghanistan. Hazara populations mostly hail from central Afghanistan and speak their own regional dialect. They have been persecuted by radical groups, such as the Taliban, with targeted attacks on those communities dating back to the 1880s.
MART co-founder and Army veteran Fatima Jaghoori is Hazaragi, or a member of the Hazara group. She said the American Legion has been a tremendous supporter of the Hazaragi and MART’s efforts to assist refugees coming to Manhattan.
She said the dinner was a way to honor and support Manhattan’s newest residents.
MART co-founder and U.S. Army veteran Fatima Jaghoori, left, talks Friday with a member of the American Legion's press team for a forthcoming article about Post 17's efforts to help Afghans adjust to life in Manhattan.
“Hospitality is a huge thing in Hazaragi and Afghan culture in general,” Jaghoori said. “This is an awesome way to get out there and let people know that there are Afghan immigrants here.”
MART executive director Ana Mendonca-Zarling said the dinner is also a way for people to learn more about the work of MART volunteers to assist incoming refugees. Since 2021, more than 200 Afghans have resettled in Manhattan.
Two families from Afghanistan and a family from Venezuela have settled in the Little Apple in the past month. Mendonca-Zarling said the group is expecting another family from Venezuela to arrive in the next couple of months as well.
Mendonca-Zarling also announced that all refugee families living in Manhattan are now residing in permanent homes, thanks to a partnership with Frontier Management.
“That’s what we’ve been working very hard with community partners, to have housing for them,” Mendonca-Zarling said. “It makes it much easier to start a permanent life in Manhattan.”
She said right now, refugee families need household electronics.
“We are in need of TVs, microwaves and vacuum cleaners,” Mendonca-Zarling said. “These are the three things that we are in need of currently.”
People interested in donating money or time to MART can learn more online at allieswelcome.com.
