Narrator: Stacie Shafran

Date: 7/20/2019

Summary: Stacie Shafran shared her experience working with Afghani guests at Fort Dix as her team worked to resettle nearly 13,000 refugees who had fled Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul.

Topics: Immigration process, leadership

Outline

Section 1: (00:00-25:51)

• Immigration process - reflects on the infrastructure they established to receive so many refugees in Fort Dix; thousands of people stayed in tents and were resettled across the United States after five and a half months in New Jersey

• Education - taught a class for Afghani middle schoolers; really feel for the children and loved being with them; helped to integrate them culturally so the transition into American life will go more smoothly

Section 2: (24:56-47:30)

• Employment/Service - thought it would only be a one month mission; at the time, was working in San Antonio but was sent to New Jersey to help at Fort Dix; had very meaningful experiences going out and interacting with guests; especially loved hanging out with the kids, giving them candy, and playing with them; told stories of her interactions with the guests

Section 3: (47:39-1:20:08)

• Leadership - wants to find a way to use her empathy in whatever comes next; loved being surrounded by so many people so committed to service; learned to use her empathy to connect with others and to finish the mission as best she could; having more experience makes the mission go more successfully; wants to find ways to keep helping people in the future

• Politics - feared that guests wouldn't get along because so many of the people gathered were from vastly different tribes; however, for the most part, things went very smoothly