Afghan refugees are welcomed to Memphis by county officials

Basir Akrami had only been in the United States for five days when he stood outside World Relief’s office in Memphis and was greeted by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, County Commission Chairman Willie Brooks Jr. and Commissioner Mark Billingsley.

“As a Shelby County Commissioner and a native of Memphis, Basir, we want to welcome you to Memphis,” Billingsley told Akrami. “We want to welcome your family. We hope that you make a wonderful home here in Shelby County. With the help of World Relief, we’re going to be helping more families like this here.”

A refugee from Afghanistan, Akrami worked as an interpreter and security guard for the U.S. embassy in Kabul before being forced to flee the country with his wife and two daughters.

Friday, representatives of Shelby County gifted him with a welcome bag, symbolizing the county’s welcome to all the Afghan refugees who have arrived and are expected to arrive over the coming weeks.

“Shelby County is a friendly place,” Harris said. “It is a welcoming county and it is one of the most diverse counties in our state. This event today is consistent with all of that. We want to make sure we welcome our Afghan families as they arrive here in this country and arrive and make Shelby County their new home.”

So far, three families have arrived in Memphis through the Afghan Placement and Assistance Program, and World Relief is expecting 10 to 12 more, said PJ Moore, executive director of World Relief.

Right now, there are challenges finding housing, but Memphis residents have offered to host the refugees, and Akrami’s family is staying with a host family.

“They are great people,” Akrami said. “They’ve given us the opportunity to live in this great place and have given us this support. Thank you for everything they’ve given to us.”

Jerri Green, policy adviser for Harris, said numerous businesses reached out to the mayor’s office offering support and help for the refugees. Some contributed to the gift bags, including items from Hueys, 17 Berkshire, Discover Memphis and $100 gift cards from Kroger.

The county also presented World Relief with a $10,000 check Friday.

“This is what we do in Shelby County, to make sure to extend you a warm welcome to Shelby County, Memphis, Tennessee,” Brooks said. “You’ve chosen a great place to be here. We are a friendly county, a friendly city and we want to make sure you have a quality of life experience here.”

Akrami said he had never heard of Memphis before coming here. His family originally fled from Kabul to Qatar before coming to the United States, and he still has family in Afghanistan in what he says is a “scary situation.”