After more than a year in America, 5-year-old Ava - who we met earlier in the podcast - is still living with her aunts in Salt Lake City, while her parents remain in Afghanistan. The urgency to bring them to the U.S. is underscored by a terrifying visit by the Taliban. Meanwhile, the family’s future in America, along with most of the Afghans who were evacuated to the US remains uncertain. They apply for asylum but don’t know whether they will get an answer before the temporary humanitarian parole allowing them to live in the U.S. expires. Will they be sent back to the country they fled for their lives? A volunteer in the neighborhood who they call “Mom” is determined to help the family. She joins forces with US military veterans and faith-based groups to advocate for passage of legislation in Congress.  Also in this episode, we get updates on others we’ve been following in this podcast including Sima, the soldier from the Female Tactical Platoon. She meets a lawyer who volunteers to help her with her asylum application. And Sima gets an opportunity that is too good to pass up, but it means saying good-bye to the friends she’s made in Utah. For more information including pictures and a transcript of this episode, visit us at kslpodcasts.com. For more on Hope4Afghanistan, visit the website: hope4afghanistan.org. Joining KSL Podcasts Premium is a great way to support our show and to get our bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts. Stranger Becomes Neighbor is sponsored by Better Help.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Americans know very little about the Afghan special forces known as the Zero Units who were instrumental to the war on terror in Afghanistan, but now they’re living among us in America. One of these Afghan veterans has a family of four with another baby on the way, and they are in desperate need of a home. A neighborhood pulls together to help them, even though it means moving them far from refugee services. The neighbors pour their time and energy into the family, with at least a dozen people helping them on a regular basis, and donations coming from all directions. But what about all the other refugees who aren’t getting this help? We find another family in a similar situation. The father is a veteran who served in the Zero Units and they are also expecting a baby. But this family recently received an eviction notice, and they don’t know where they will live when the baby comes. For more information including pictures and a transcript of this episode, visit us at kslpodcasts.com. For more on Hope4Afghanistan, visit the website: hope4afghanistan.org. Joining KSL Podcasts Premium is a great way to support our show and to get our bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts. Stranger Becomes Neighbor is sponsored by Better Help.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This holiday week, we're unlocking a BONUS episode! An experiment to allow women in Afghanistan to help U.S. special forces during combat raids was a full-fledged program by the time the American military pulled out of the country in 2021. Sergeant Rebekah Edmondson was there as the Cultural Support Program began and Americans started training women from Afghanistan to became soldiers as part of the Female Tactical Platoon. In a candid interview, Edmondson gets honest about the challenges of developing trust across different cultures and under pressures of war. Now she feels a personal responsibility to make sure these Afghan soldiers are supported in America. Rebekah’s work continues now with the PenFed foundation to assist these women who were allies to the U.S. For more information on the PenFed Foundation’s Afghan Rescue and Resettlement program, visit penfedfoundation.org To listen to all of our bonus episodes, join KSL Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. For more, including pictures, visit us at kslpodcasts.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When thousands of Afghans arrived in US communities in a short time frame, the refugee agencies were challenged to meet the needs of the evacuees. It fell on regular Americans to try to fill in the gaps. This story follows the efforts of two especially driven volunteers: one a former refugee herself, the other a stay-at-home mother of five. They reach the limits of what they can do alone, and try to figure out how to build a network big enough to meet all the needs they see. In the beginning, many people wanted to help, but as time goes by and other events take over the news, they find American attention and interest in Afghans is waning.  For more information including pictures and a transcript of this episode, visit us at kslpodcasts.com. For more on Hope4Afghanistan, visit the website: hope4afghanistan.org. And find Sisters of Service at https://sistersofservice.org/ For more information on the PenFed Foundation’s Afghan Rescue and Resettlement program, visit penfedfoundation.org. Joining KSL Podcasts Premium is a great way to support our show and to get our bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts. Stranger Becomes Neighbor is sponsored by Better Help.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Looking at a young woman in a headscarf quietly ringing up groceries at Walmart, you would never know the dramatic life she has lived. During the war in Afghanistan, the US military trained a small, elite force of Afghan women called the Female Tactical Platoon (FTP) to serve alongside American special forces on dangerous night raids of suspected Taliban homes and compounds. These female soldiers had to keep their work secret, even from their own neighbors, because they were not safe in their own country. And when the Taliban took control, there was no plan in place to protect them. That's when US soldiers - mostly women - who trained and worked with the FTPs decided they would have to be the ones to get this highly endangered group out of Afghanistan. They call themselves Sisters of Service. This week on Stranger Becomes Neighbor, we follow the path of one remarkable Afghan soldier and the sisterhood that stands by her side.  For more information including pictures and a transcript of this episode, visit us at kslpodcasts.com. For more on Hope4Afghanistan, visit the website: hope4afghanistan.org. And find Sisters of Service at https://sistersofservice.org/ For more information on the PenFed Foundation’s Afghan Rescue and Resettlement program, visit penfedfoundation.org. Joining KSL Podcasts premium is a great way to support our show and to get our bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts. Stranger Becomes Neighbor is sponsored by Better Help.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.