Respond's Work With Our Partner, Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors
Respond is working with the Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors team to facilitate screening of 500 Afghans.
As a result of this work, we have paid $11,400 to Dari and Pashto translators and interpreters based in Afghanistan.
"When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan's government, 537 evacuees resettled in the Nashville area. In the first months, the resettlement agencies worked to house, feed and access medical services and employment for these families.
Many were admitted on a temporary humanitarian parole status and will need to file for asylum. Once the families were settled, the resettlement agencies began connecting the families with our office for a free consultation with an attorney. While many of our staff members are bilingual, none of us spoke Dari or Pashtu, the main languages needed to connect with the evacuees. Historically, we have been able to connect with community volunteers when we needed additional interpretation services for our volunteer lawyers or law students. But in this instance, finding a pool of Dari and Pashto speakers in our area was incredibly difficult leaving us unable to communicate directly with the clients.
Since then, we have screened nearly 500 individuals. Without the help of interpreters like those who stepped forward at Respond Crisis, we would not have been able to do our part of this community wide effort. Respond has truly allowed us to respond during this crisis."
Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors Team