A history of helping

Twenty-two years ago, on June 24, 1999, the byline of Heather Dewar of The Baltimore Sun newspaper in Maryland appeared at the top of a Sun article datelined “Jefferson, Iowa.” 

It’s doubtful that Heather Dewar was aware of Jefferson, Iowa’s existence before she penned her article. But she sure knew our community by the time she finished it. 

Her piece carried a long headline: “Home in the Heartland; The Gashi family, all 17 of them, finds peace on the Iowa prairie. It isn’t Kosovo, but it is a welcome relief.” 

You gotta read the article.

On your computer, type “Jefferson, Iowa/Kosovo refugees/Baltimore Sun.” The first reference that pops up (at least on my laptop) is Dewar’s article.

If you don’t get a catch in your throat as you read it, you suffer from hardness of the heart.

The article details the way Jefferson folks committed their hearts, hands and wallets to the extended Gashi family from Lipljan, Kosovo, a Serbian province that was involved in a battle for its independence from Serbia. 

I won’t spoil your reading experience by sharing the article’s details here. But if you didn’t live here at the time, or if you’ve forgotten the event’s outline, here’s a summary:

In the 1990s, Iowa maintained the only state agency in the nation to help refugees. It was an outgrowth of former Gov. Bob Ray’s efforts to resettle Vietnamese refugees into our state after the Vietnam War. It was called the Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services.

After planning sessions involving several Jefferson churches, local leaders contacted the refugee bureau to offer the community as a sanctuary for a Kosovar family. Weeks later the bureau responded: could Jefferson take 17 Gashi family members?

It was the largest intact family of refugees ever to be resettled as a group in Iowa, maybe in the entire nation.

The article describes how the community, led by its churches, stepped up to the challenge. 

Here’s the thing: we could do it again.

We did it for homeless Vietnamese. We did it for homeless Kosovars. We could do it for homeless Afghans.

Thousands of desperate refugee families from Afghanistan are being airlifted from the Kabul airport, if they can somehow make their way to Kabul and through the closely guarded airport gates. 

They had helped the American war effort against the Taliban and terrorists in that nation. Now that the United States is finally winding down its 20-year war there, our local allies justly fear retribution from the Taliban victors.

Gov. Kim Reynolds says Iowa will accept Afghan refugees. The Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services sadly no longer exists, but the governor’s office would certainly be the point of contact for communities looking to help.

Like the Kosovars, the vast majority of Afghans are Muslims. Unlike the Kosovars, because of the Afghans’ longtime close contact with Americans, language would probably not pose as much of a communication barrier. 

The Kosovars stayed here about six months before returning to their home area, which by that time had achieved its independence. It’s unlikely that most Afghans would be returning to their home nation so long as Taliban rule continues.

The challenge, and the opportunity to help desperate people, are ours once again.