CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When Afghan children visit the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools International Center for the first time, they’re drawn to a world map.
Squeezed between Pakistan and Iran is a bright blue shape labeled Afghanistan.
Gilmara Johnson, the CMS Family & Community Engagement Specialist, said some point out the place they used to call home.
"It brings a lot to my heart to this work that we're doing now to support this new immigrant in Charlotte," Johnson said.
For months now, around 72 Afghan children have made themselves at home at CMS. CMS works with two refugee resettlement agencies to get eligible students enrolled in school.
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The CMS International Center is the first stop for Afghan students enrolling in school. The team tasked with helping the children at the center is focused on helping students feel whole in and out of school.
"Looking back 20 years ago, when I immigrated to this country, I was about 29, 30 years old," Nadja Trez, the Executive Director of the Learning and Language Acquisition Department, said. "So, I was kind of relating to that similar kind of experience. And then kind of looking back what I needed it 20 years ago for me to resettle seamlessly.”
Trez immigrated from Seoul, South Korea, and Johnson from Brazil. They both use their first-hand experiences with transitioning to a new country to help the families of Afghan students.
"Even though we settled our refugee families in Charlotte area, the current trend is they are leaving the Charlotte area because there was no continuous support," Trez said.
Trez described the students and their family’s transition as a three-part mission.
"There's a pre-settlement, resettlement, and then post-settlement," Trez said. "We need to have a sustainable support for our family support."
The CMS task force, labeled CHAAMPS, developed a resource hub to help families of students. CMS said each Afghan refugee student is assigned a mentor, all students receive a Chromebook and if needed a hotspot for internet service.
Johnson has done home visits to get students enrolled.
"Welcome to CMS, welcome to school," Johnson said. "Just to see the smile on those students faces -- that means the world to me”
It’s about more than just getting the students enrolled.
The task force can provide the families with community resources for clothes, shoes and housing if they need them.
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"If they don't have supplies, I take them out to the families and find out what other needs they might have," Frank Duque-Estrada, a CMS bilingual school social worker, said.
Some families are still in hotel rooms and getting accustomed to American life and freedoms.
“One family, in particular, we had been talking about trying to connect with them through the phone, the number that we had, and then they wouldn't answer," Johnson said.
The family was leaving the phone off and told social workers a reason: they didn't realize the phone could be left on all day.
The district aims to take a holistic approach to make sure these students and their families adjust.
"I feel like you know, that they can succeed, they just need the right resources, right support in the right time," Trez said. "We just need to have a high expectation and then provide those support.”
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.