Refugees from wars in Ukraine, Afghanistan welcomed by Long Island nonprofits helping them establish new lives
Anna Konovalova is among those being assisted by the Congregations of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, along with her husband and their two children, ages 8 and 3. Credit: Alejandra Villa-Loarca
It was clear to the Afghan woman that her work as a teacher would not be tolerated by the Taliban.
Her activities included not only teaching at a private school, but going into the homes of women and girls for private lessons.
"It's really hard in Afghanistan," especially for a woman, said the 27-year-old teacher, who did not want to be identified publicly because she still has family in the country.
"Because as an educated person when I was in Afghanistan, I had many activities before coming of Taliban. … But when they come and they take control of Afghanistan, we cannot do anything based on any kind of education, and the woman cannot go even outside" unless accompanied by a male relative, she said.
"They don't have their normal life. All of the university and also the school is closed for girls and for women."
As an unmarried woman with no opportunity to work, she said, she had to leave. That was five months ago. Accompanied by a nephew — and fearful she could be found out by the Taliban as they journeyed through Afghanistan — she made her way to Islamabad, Pakistan. Her nephew returned home and she began her quest to get to the United States.
The woman is among the Afghan and Ukrainian refugees who are being helped by faith-based nonprofits on Long Island, aided by grants from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset. Officials from those nonprofits say the refugees want the same things most anyone wants: a safe place to live and work and to raise their families. These grants help allow for those dreams to be realized, the nonprofit leaders said, by aiding their efforts to help the refugees establish new lives in the area.
While in Pakistan, she applied for and received entry to the U.S. through the government's Diversity Visa Lottery, which awards 50,000 immigrant visas each year, according to the usa.gov website.
And through a stroke of luck, she learned from someone she only communicated with online about the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, who provided her with the plane fare she needed to travel to the United States. She arrived in May in Brentwood, where she is being assisted by the Sisters' Refugee Resettlement Program and its Long Island Immigration Clinic.
"People cannot leave Afghanistan and fly directly here to the U.S.," said Melanie Marzano, senior case worker for the Sisters' resettlement program. "They all have to go to Islamabad first. In her case, she had to stay for two-and-a half months [in Pakistan], so even that part is difficult, because you need money to be able to stay somewhere temporarily. So it’s not easy even when you are fortunate to get a lottery and the opportunity to come here."
The Afghan woman is among 37 individuals from Afghanistan and Ukraine that have been helped by the Sisters' two programs since late 2021, according to Sister Janet Kinney, director of the immigration clinic. Currently, the Sisters are assisting 25 people. And they recently got a financial boost to assist Afghans and Ukrainians deemed "humanitarian parolees" by the U.S. government.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, "individuals who are outside of the United States may be able to request parole into the United States based on urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons."
The Sisters' Long Island Immigration Clinic, started just last year, was a recipient of a $50,000 grant from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock. The clinic is one of three faith-based organizations that received grant money from the congregation to provide supportive services to individuals who are designated "humanitarian parolees" from Afghanistan and Ukraine.
"Our members want to be good neighbors," said the Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore, lead minister of the Unitarian congregation, which distributed a total of $325,000 to the three organizations.
In addition to the Sisters of St. Joseph, other recipients were Catholic Charities of Long Island, which received $200,000, and Upholding Humanity, which received $75,000.
Upholding Humanity is a coalition of interfaith institutions that, besides the Unitarian congregation, includes the Islamic Center of Long Island; UJA-Federation of New York; St. John's Episcopal Church, Cold Spring Harbor; American Jewish Committee of Long Island; Temple Sinai of Roslyn; and Community Synagogue of Port Washington.
Upholding Humanity has helped support the resettlement of more than 50 refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine in the past two years in Queens and Long Island, said Rabbi Ilana Schachter of Temple Sinai of Roslyn, one of the volunteer leaders of the coalition.
Catholic Charities is currently helping between 300 and 400 Ukrainians and more than 50 Afghans, said Carmen Maquilon, director of immigrant and refugee services.
"These are groups we have partnered with before," Fenimore said, and "have a proven capacity to help in this crisis."
And as they work to be neighbors with those around them here on Long Island, "We want to live out our principles in the world," Fenimore said. After the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, the Unitarian congregation turned its attention to helping refugees from those countries.
Among those being assisted by the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood are Anna Konovalova, 37, her husband Ihor Konovalov and their two children, ages 8 and 3. Also receiving aid: Kseniia Kasieieva, 39, and her husband and two children, also ages 8 and 3.
When war broke out in Ukraine last year, Anna Konovalova said, "I don't want to believe."
Likewise, her countrywoman Kasieieva said she thought an explosion that woke her up was just something that was part of a nightmare. "But when my husband came to my room and told me that the war started, I was shocked."
She added: "The decision was to leave the country from the very first day."
From Ukraine they went to Moldova, then to Poland, then Turkey, then a plane ride to Mexico, where they arrived in April 2022. There, they went through asylum processing, Kasieieva said, which brought them to a Ukrainian refugee camp in Texas. They were there for only four days. Her husband's father lived on Long Island, but in a small apartment. They were referred to the Sisters of St. Joseph, where they remain. The refugees live free in renovated former dormitories or in houses on the 211-acre campus.
Some are working, or undergoing skills training or getting help with educational needs; many are taking English language classes and getting help with their immigration paperwork and the documents they need to live in the U.S., such as driver's license and Social Security cards and work authorizations, the sisters said.
For Konovalova's family, the first move was to Lithuania. "We thought the war would stop in a few months, then we come back home," she said. But "then we realize the war never stop." Her husband had stayed behind in Ukraine until recently.
Konovalova's husband's sister, who lives in Brooklyn, invited the family to live with her. But a small Brooklyn apartment for four additional people proved too much. Besides, Konovalova found the neighborhood unsafe. But "it's also very expensive."
Konovalova wrote to several organizations that help Ukrainian refugees and learned about the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood.
"It was right before Christmas" last year, Konovalova said. So she decided to check the place out first. "When you see on the map, it's like long way from Brooklyn to here. It's like three trains" for her to travel to Brentwood.
The thought of the long journey to an unfamiliar place was daunting, Konovalova said, "but when I arrived, I saw it was very nice place. I realize it's the best place for kids because it's safe. It's peaceful. Exactly what we need."
She added: "It's like a Christmas miracle."
The Congregation of the Sisters' immigration clinic and its Office of Refugee Resettlement work in tandem.
"We're largely a volunteer-driven program overseen by immigration attorneys," Kinney said.
She said the clinic works jointly with the resettlement office, which provides the housing and case management services, "and then they refer them to the immigration clinic, where they get evaluated for their legal needs. For some it's asylum, the parole program and also helping them with employee authorization paperwork."
"What's unique about our program, we let them stay a minimum of a year," said Sister Annelle Fitzpatrick, director of the resettlement office. "I think one of the successes to resettling people is to let them know they at least have a year, two if necessary. The kids can settle in, get over their trauma. And the other unique thing about it is we don't charge rent. But they have to save. They have to open a bank book and we try to get them to save 25% of what they make."
The goal is to get the refugees to a place of self-sufficiency, many officials said.
"The biggest thing, which is the most difficult one, is the housing issue," said Maquilon, of Catholic Charities. "Housing is scarce. In addition to that, it’s very expensive. Sometimes a person might be short $200 or $300 to pay the rent. Or need help paying car insurance," things the grant funding will enable Catholic Charities to help refugees with, Maquilon said. "Our main purpose is they not become a burden to their receiving communities, so they can be self-sufficient."
That view was echoed by Rabbi Schachter. "We hope that families will be able to settle into their communities, find jobs and feel self-sufficient after a year. But we’ve leaned that this work is not a science. We do our best to continue to support families as they need our assistance. And we work with a lot of social service partners to make sure nobody falls through the cracks."
The refugees in Brentwood are grateful for the help.
Kasieieva offered a view the other women seconded. Long Island, she said, was "amazing."
"I always admire this magnificent nature around us. … Of course the ocean is the main thing that we love here. These brilliant women who help us every day with everything. Their hospitality is amazing. Thank you for what we have now," she said, turning to the sisters.
It was clear to the Afghan woman that her work as a teacher would not be tolerated by the Taliban.
Her activities included not only teaching at a private school, but going into the homes of women and girls for private lessons.
"It's really hard in Afghanistan," especially for a woman, said the 27-year-old teacher, who did not want to be identified publicly because she still has family in the country.
"Because as an educated person when I was in Afghanistan, I had many activities before coming of Taliban. … But when they come and they take control of Afghanistan, we cannot do anything based on any kind of education, and the woman cannot go even outside" unless accompanied by a male relative, she said.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Grants from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset are aiding Afghan and Ukrainian refugees from wars in those countries.
- The money went to three faith-based nonprofits on Long Island, who help the refugees transition to new lives.
- Hundreds of refugees have been settled on Long Island and Queens in recent years.
"They don't have their normal life. All of the university and also the school is closed for girls and for women."
As an unmarried woman with no opportunity to work, she said, she had to leave. That was five months ago. Accompanied by a nephew — and fearful she could be found out by the Taliban as they journeyed through Afghanistan — she made her way to Islamabad, Pakistan. Her nephew returned home and she began her quest to get to the United States.
The woman is among the Afghan and Ukrainian refugees who are being helped by faith-based nonprofits on Long Island, aided by grants from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset. Officials from those nonprofits say the refugees want the same things most anyone wants: a safe place to live and work and to raise their families. These grants help allow for those dreams to be realized, the nonprofit leaders said, by aiding their efforts to help the refugees establish new lives in the area.
While in Pakistan, she applied for and received entry to the U.S. through the government's Diversity Visa Lottery, which awards 50,000 immigrant visas each year, according to the usa.gov website.
And through a stroke of luck, she learned from someone she only communicated with online about the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, who provided her with the plane fare she needed to travel to the United States. She arrived in May in Brentwood, where she is being assisted by the Sisters' Refugee Resettlement Program and its Long Island Immigration Clinic.
"People cannot leave Afghanistan and fly directly here to the U.S.," said Melanie Marzano, senior case worker for the Sisters' resettlement program. "They all have to go to Islamabad first. In her case, she had to stay for two-and-a half months [in Pakistan], so even that part is difficult, because you need money to be able to stay somewhere temporarily. So it’s not easy even when you are fortunate to get a lottery and the opportunity to come here."
The Afghan woman is among 37 individuals from Afghanistan and Ukraine that have been helped by the Sisters' two programs since late 2021, according to Sister Janet Kinney, director of the immigration clinic. Currently, the Sisters are assisting 25 people. And they recently got a financial boost to assist Afghans and Ukrainians deemed "humanitarian parolees" by the U.S. government.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, "individuals who are outside of the United States may be able to request parole into the United States based on urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons."
Grant financed Sisters' refugee support
The Sisters' Long Island Immigration Clinic, started just last year, was a recipient of a $50,000 grant from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock. The clinic is one of three faith-based organizations that received grant money from the congregation to provide supportive services to individuals who are designated "humanitarian parolees" from Afghanistan and Ukraine.
"Our members want to be good neighbors," said the Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore, lead minister of the Unitarian congregation, which distributed a total of $325,000 to the three organizations.
In addition to the Sisters of St. Joseph, other recipients were Catholic Charities of Long Island, which received $200,000, and Upholding Humanity, which received $75,000.
Upholding Humanity is a coalition of interfaith institutions that, besides the Unitarian congregation, includes the Islamic Center of Long Island; UJA-Federation of New York; St. John's Episcopal Church, Cold Spring Harbor; American Jewish Committee of Long Island; Temple Sinai of Roslyn; and Community Synagogue of Port Washington.
Upholding Humanity has helped support the resettlement of more than 50 refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine in the past two years in Queens and Long Island, said Rabbi Ilana Schachter of Temple Sinai of Roslyn, one of the volunteer leaders of the coalition.
Catholic Charities is currently helping between 300 and 400 Ukrainians and more than 50 Afghans, said Carmen Maquilon, director of immigrant and refugee services.
"These are groups we have partnered with before," Fenimore said, and "have a proven capacity to help in this crisis."
And as they work to be neighbors with those around them here on Long Island, "We want to live out our principles in the world," Fenimore said. After the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, the Unitarian congregation turned its attention to helping refugees from those countries.
Sanctuary from war
Among those being assisted by the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood are Anna Konovalova, 37, her husband Ihor Konovalov and their two children, ages 8 and 3. Also receiving aid: Kseniia Kasieieva, 39, and her husband and two children, also ages 8 and 3.
When war broke out in Ukraine last year, Anna Konovalova said, "I don't want to believe."
Likewise, her countrywoman Kasieieva said she thought an explosion that woke her up was just something that was part of a nightmare. "But when my husband came to my room and told me that the war started, I was shocked."
She added: "The decision was to leave the country from the very first day."
From Ukraine they went to Moldova, then to Poland, then Turkey, then a plane ride to Mexico, where they arrived in April 2022. There, they went through asylum processing, Kasieieva said, which brought them to a Ukrainian refugee camp in Texas. They were there for only four days. Her husband's father lived on Long Island, but in a small apartment. They were referred to the Sisters of St. Joseph, where they remain. The refugees live free in renovated former dormitories or in houses on the 211-acre campus.
Some are working, or undergoing skills training or getting help with educational needs; many are taking English language classes and getting help with their immigration paperwork and the documents they need to live in the U.S., such as driver's license and Social Security cards and work authorizations, the sisters said.
For Konovalova's family, the first move was to Lithuania. "We thought the war would stop in a few months, then we come back home," she said. But "then we realize the war never stop." Her husband had stayed behind in Ukraine until recently.
Konovalova's husband's sister, who lives in Brooklyn, invited the family to live with her. But a small Brooklyn apartment for four additional people proved too much. Besides, Konovalova found the neighborhood unsafe. But "it's also very expensive."
Konovalova wrote to several organizations that help Ukrainian refugees and learned about the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood.
"It was right before Christmas" last year, Konovalova said. So she decided to check the place out first. "When you see on the map, it's like long way from Brooklyn to here. It's like three trains" for her to travel to Brentwood.
The thought of the long journey to an unfamiliar place was daunting, Konovalova said, "but when I arrived, I saw it was very nice place. I realize it's the best place for kids because it's safe. It's peaceful. Exactly what we need."
She added: "It's like a Christmas miracle."
The Congregation of the Sisters' immigration clinic and its Office of Refugee Resettlement work in tandem.
"We're largely a volunteer-driven program overseen by immigration attorneys," Kinney said.
She said the clinic works jointly with the resettlement office, which provides the housing and case management services, "and then they refer them to the immigration clinic, where they get evaluated for their legal needs. For some it's asylum, the parole program and also helping them with employee authorization paperwork."
"What's unique about our program, we let them stay a minimum of a year," said Sister Annelle Fitzpatrick, director of the resettlement office. "I think one of the successes to resettling people is to let them know they at least have a year, two if necessary. The kids can settle in, get over their trauma. And the other unique thing about it is we don't charge rent. But they have to save. They have to open a bank book and we try to get them to save 25% of what they make."
The goal is to get the refugees to a place of self-sufficiency, many officials said.
"The biggest thing, which is the most difficult one, is the housing issue," said Maquilon, of Catholic Charities. "Housing is scarce. In addition to that, it’s very expensive. Sometimes a person might be short $200 or $300 to pay the rent. Or need help paying car insurance," things the grant funding will enable Catholic Charities to help refugees with, Maquilon said. "Our main purpose is they not become a burden to their receiving communities, so they can be self-sufficient."
That view was echoed by Rabbi Schachter. "We hope that families will be able to settle into their communities, find jobs and feel self-sufficient after a year. But we’ve leaned that this work is not a science. We do our best to continue to support families as they need our assistance. And we work with a lot of social service partners to make sure nobody falls through the cracks."
The refugees in Brentwood are grateful for the help.
Kasieieva offered a view the other women seconded. Long Island, she said, was "amazing."
"I always admire this magnificent nature around us. … Of course the ocean is the main thing that we love here. These brilliant women who help us every day with everything. Their hospitality is amazing. Thank you for what we have now," she said, turning to the sisters.
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