Afghan families arrive in Sacramento with so little. Help stock a closet with the right clothes

Ogay Sadat notes her English isn’t perfect. But that doesn’t stop her from singing the praises of a Sacramento nonprofit, Starting Point for Refugee Children, which has been helping her family since it left Afghanistan and arrived in Sacramento in August 2021.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said of the local organization. “After I registered online and heard they could help, I gathered up the other families that were staying at the motel in Natomas and got them to register, too.”

Volunteers from the group arrived with baskets filled with needed supplies.

“Pillows. Utensils. Everything new, too,” said Sadat, 35, during an interview last week at Asia Market and Restaurant on Fulton Avenue. “It was so helpful, considering it was so hard to find housing that we could afford. I got a teapot — that was big, since the kitchenette at the motel didn’t have one.”

Sadat came to the restaurant with her son Jamal, at the behest of Vickee Moy, a Sacramento City College professor of English as a Second Language and founder of Starting Point, which was established in 2017 and has provided clothing and other goods to more than 5,000 mostly Afghan and Ukranian immigrants since then.

Jamal, a studious 10-year-old boy who loves math and sports, stayed respectfully quiet for most of the meal, brightening when a particularly good goal was made during the soccer game on TV. He also offered insights on the finer points of cricket, which his sister plays.

College-educated, Ogay Sadat worked for a U.S. company in Afghanistan and was able to enter this country with a special immigrant visa. But because time was short when it became apparent her life would be in danger following the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, her family – her husband and their three young children – arrived in Sacramento with little more than the clothes they were wearing.

Moy said that’s not unusual. Many refugee children arrive with worn-out shoes and clothing that is inappropriate for hot Sacramento summers. And even when their parents can scrape up enough money for new clothes, kids soon outgrow them.

“That’s why we try to have pop-up ‘shops’ with clothing, shoes and diapers in April-May for summer clothing and October-November for winter needs,” Moy said. Most of the families are crowded into apartments that have little storage area for out-of-season clothing.

To help address the storage issue, Starting Point this year is asking readers of The Sacramento Bee’s Book of Dreams stories to help establish a permanent clothes closet to provide culturally appropriate seasonal clothing for refugee children. The cost: About $7,000.

Dire straits

According to MigrationPolicy.org, in 2022, 39% of Afghan immigrants were in poverty, compared to 14% for immigrants overall. (The U.S. Census Bureau defined poverty in 2022 as having an income below $29,700 for a family of four.)

Sadat, her dark hair wrapped with a black scarf that curled modestly around her neck, called her t family with three children small.

“Most Afghan families have at least four children, some more. Family is more important to us than material things, other luxuries,” she said.

Her easy smile and optimistic outlook belie the dire straits her family has endured since arriving in Sacramento. She still hasn’t found a job, and her husband is working as an Uber driver after his temporary stint as a security guard ended. He is also taking English courses at night.

Sadat is grateful that her family now has an apartment in the North Highlands area, although she is still incredulous about how hard it is to obtain housing here. She ticked off the ways, finger by finger: “You have to have first month’s rent, last month’s rent, security deposit, and then $75 for each credit check. Credit check? We didn’t have credit – we just got here.”

An immigration aid organization helped with the family’s deposit and the first month’s rent.

‘Perseverance, strength, hope and humanity’

Moy, 54, was inspired to establish Starting Point after being touched by her refugee students’ stories about their lives in their native countries and about their new challenges here.

“Starting Point is one way I hope to honor and remember their incredible stories and beautiful lessons about perseverance, strength, hope and humanity,” she said.

Many of her past and present ESL students also volunteer with Starting Point. The group is all-volunteer, and includes her husband, Allen Moy, a retired budget and planning manager for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

About 10 volunteers work year round planning for the group’s clothing pop-ups and other events, and they are joined by 30 to 40 others during the events, including bilingual volunteers who can talk to the refugees about their needs.

“This group, they have people that speak our language, know something of our culture,” said Sadat, who often helps people in her community fill out forms in English. “I love talking with Vickee. It makes me really happy. She encourages us to find solutions and not think all the time about what goes wrong.”

Sadat said she also appreciates that Starting Point “never makes us feel like we are taking charity.”

Moy said the group spends a lot of time thinking about each family’s needs and even makes sure there is a table or room staffed with volunteers and craft projects to keep kids busy as the parents “shop” and socialize at the pop-ups.

Book of Dreams

The dream: Starting Point for Refugee Children wants to establish a permanent clothes closet to serve the children of immigrants with donations to the Book of Dreams Fund at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.

The cost: $7,000.

This story was originally published December 19, 2024 at 5:00 AM.