Haddam Area Refugee Resettlement Project(HaRRP) a success!
The Higganum Congregational Church and The First Congregational Church of Haddam started HaRRP in 2022. Working with IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Service), HaRRP completed the application process and became a co-sponsor for the Azam Khan refugee family from Afghanistan in the fall of 2022.
On January 1, 2023, HaRRP’s two founding churches became one: The United Congregational Church of Haddam and Higganum. With the merger of the churches, there was an even stronger bond with each other and with our dedication to HaRRP.
The journey began in late 2021 when a group of us had a dream to resettle a refugee family in Haddam. The infrastructure was developed including a large team of volunteers, securing the Trinity House on our Haddam campus to provide shelter, making an empty space a place to call home, preparing teams of drivers, assistants with healthcare, assistance with finances, (ours and theirs), education and language helpers.
In November 2022 we welcomed Azam and his family, wife Bibi Jana, daughters Muska and Afsana, and sons Jahanzib and Raihan. And as we began to work with them, they became family. The children were enrolled in school, participated in Little League and quickly improved their English. Azam found a job, began work on obtaining his drivers license and supporting the family finances.
Hours and hours of volunteer time was offered to help them assimilate to life in a new country. We celebrated the one year anniversary of their arrival in the United States in August of 2023 with an Ice Cream Social and in November they prepared a traditional Afghan meal for the community to thank us for the assistance they had received. As the year came towards an end, the family indicated that they wanted to return to New Haven where they had close family members. Azam secured an apartment near family members and on December 1, 2023, HaRRP volunteers packed up their belongings and moved them to New Haven. Azam’s family members helped unload the trucks and set up the new apartment. In early December the children began attending new schools in New Haven. Our role in helping this family is complete. We helped prepare them for the next chapter in the story of the Azam Khan family in America.
We are grateful for the opportunity to help this family and the support we received. The experiences we shared with them have given us new insights into the reality of new immigrants.