Last week, Afghan refugees Benafsha and her husband Mustafa were reunited with their 22-month-old son Jasoor after more than a year of separation. The reunion was able to take place because of the efforts of a pro-life pregnancy resource center.
According to Catholic News Agency (CNA), the couple had been separated from their young son while the U.S. was withdrawing troops from Afghanistan on August 26, 2021. Benafsha had served as a translator for coalition forces and was granted Special Immigrant Visas to evacuate to the United States after the Afghanistan government fell. While waiting to board their flight to the U.S. at the Kabul airport, a suicide bomber detonated explosives, killing 170 people. Jasoor and his grandmother, who was holding him, were separated from his parents in the chaos. The couple was forced to leave without their son and his grandmother.
CNA reports that just three months later, Jasoor and his grandmother were struggling to survive in Afghanistan with little coal or food as they headed into winter. In Texas, Benafsha and Mustafa were facing eviction from the temporary housing they had been living in — and Benafsha was pregnant.
Seeking help, she contacted Pflugerville Pregnancy Resource Center near Austin, where executive director Brittany Green was willing and able to help them in more ways than the couple could have imagined.
“Our perception here is we come from a place of ‘yes.’ If it is something that we can do, we’re going to do it. If it’s something we can’t do, we’re going to find the people who can help us do it,” Green said. “The people that we serve often hear ‘no.’ And we don’t want them to come to us and hear another ‘no.’ So we will do everything in our power to make sure that their future and success is set up.”
Green was able to secure health insurance for Benafsha and made her an appointment with the center’s medical director for pregnancy care. With assistance from Loveline Outreach Ministry and a church, the pro-life pregnancy center found a hotel room for the couple and helped Mustafa find a job. Then, Green went a step further.
She contacted the Vulnerable People Project (VPP), a nonprofit that helps evacuate refugees in Afghanistan, which was founded by pro-life advocate Jason Jones. He and Green met with the couple and within 24 hours, Jones had coal and food delivered to Jasoor and his grandmother and had secured funding for the couple to get more permanent housing in Texas. Next, he started the process of getting a visa for Jasoor to come to the U.S.
It took nine months of paperwork and negotiations, and in that time the couple welcomed baby Helen — but on September 27, after more than a year apart, Benafsha and Mustafa were reunited with their son at Dulles International Airport. Benafsha called it the “happiest day of my life.”
“It’s a really happy day,” added Mustafa.
The reunion is proof that pro-lifers and pro-life pregnancy centers exist to serve women and families. Their services are free of charge and are available well after a baby is born.
“I’m so grateful for the thousands of pregnancy centers across America that help women meet their needs,” said Jones. “If not for this pro-life clinic reaching out to us, we never would have met Benafsha and Mustafa and been able to help them reunite with Jasoor.”
