After months of life-shattering uncertainty and loss, an Afghan family of three sat at a dining room table to eat breakfast on a recent morning at a facility in Colorado with perhaps a sigh of relief to know they’re almost home.

They are the first of around 1,000 Afghan refugees who will shuffle through an unprecedented state-run program prepared to guide them through the first stage of rebuilding their lives.

What’s unusual is that they’re being taken care of in a one-stop gathering site that will house, feed and protect them, provide jobs, mental and physical health care and school registration.

“This is historic,” said Kit Tainter, who oversees the Office of New Americans, which was established June 25 as an arm of Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment.

Tainter compared this moment in time to the Vietnamese airlift in the 1970s and to the 1990s when Bosnian refugees arrived after the disintegration of Yugoslavia. “In 20 years, we will talk about how Colorado partnered to get this done.”

State agencies including Tainter’s, the Office of Emergency Management and the Department of Human Services have been working on the partnership since August when the first planes carrying fleeing Afghans ascended from the Kabul airport.  

The process has a $16 million price tag, funded by the Afghan Supplemental Appropriations Act, part of the federal budget passed by Congress in September.

The Denver Gazette has agreed not to disclose the site where the refugees are being housed, for security reasons. Organizers say there haven’t been any threats to the site, and they want to keep it that way.

“If you go to social media, you (see) that there is a lot of support and there isn’t and you know that’s the world we live in,” said Micki Trost, a spokesperson for the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

“It’s important that they feel safe,” added Mike Willis, director of the State Office of Emergency Management.

Colorado is the only state to run such a facility. Houston, New York, Minneapolis and Sacramento are also welcoming scores of Afghan immigrants, but organizers say Colorado’s endeavor is by far the largest considering the scores of refugees being provided services.

Most of the refugees fled because they were targets of retribution by the Taliban after helping the U.S. during its occupation of Afghanistan. The refugees include interpreters, grant administrators, television broadcasters, engineers and teachers. For some, this is their fourth move in four months and they are eager to rebuild their lives from scratch with the help of the U.S. and Colorado.

“For every dollar we spend in refugee resettlement, we receive $1.23 in state and local taxes,” said Noyes Combs, state refugee coordinator for the Colorado Department of Human Services.

As of Thursday, almost 40 Afghan evacuees were trickling in, making themselves at home. One of them is a pregnant woman expected to give birth any day. The stories are heartbreaking and scary. Some of those coming to Colorado are children whose parents stayed behind. Some are women widowed by war. Local hospitals have been alerted to the unique situation as well as nearby fire, EMS and police departments.

“We’re talking about people here who have been through enormous trauma and hardship. They had to run for their lives with nothing but their clothes on their backs,” said Human Services spokesman Mark Techmeyer.

The transitional housing facility will be equipped with signs in Farsi and Pashto, and food will be prepared according to cultural guidelines. Most of the Afghan refugees have Humanitarian Parole and Special Immigrant Visas and have been vaccinated against COVID-19. There’s a special playground for refugee children so they can start feeling normal.

“Kids figure out when their parents are scared,” said Combs.

Colorado is keeping its commitment to accepting 2,000 Afghans; 1,000 are already here. The central facility will continue to accept refugees into February with the resettlement operation expected to be complete by March 2022.

The Colorado Afghan Support Fund

rcfdenver.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create?funit_id=2749

ECDC/African Community Center

acc-den.org/donate-2

Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains

lfsrm.org/give/donate