Ms. Nasiri
The Refugee Response did a write up about Ms. Nasiri and her car. Here it is:
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Anyone who lives here knows it’s not easy getting around the Cleveland area without a car.
Ms. Nasiri, an Afghan refugee, learned that firsthand. Nasiri, 21, came to the U.S. alone last November and settled in Cleveland. With the help of USCRI, one of three refugee resettlement agencies operating in the Cleveland area, she got a job in food service at University Hospitals and a temporary apartment in Coventry Village. She had left Kabul in her second year of college, and she was eager to get back to school. But she didn’t have any means of transportation.
“I had just a bus pass, and the bus station is very far,” she said. “I [would] call my friends, ‘Please come, I want to go shopping.’” But with all of the other Afghan new arrivals hustling to make ends meet, she could go two months without a trip to the store.
That’s where Wheels to Work came in.
Wheels to Work connects refugees in the Cleveland area with donated cars. While many nonprofits accept donated cars, they typically have the car auctioned off for well below its bluebook price by a for-profit third party, so the nonprofit only receives a small percentage of the car’s value.
Instead, Wheels to Work takes donated used vehicles, pays for minor repairs, and turns them over to refugees who desperately need them.
Nasiri connected to Wheels to Work through Mohammad, Refugee Response’s liaison to the Afghan community. When Wheels to Work gave Nasiri a used Honda Civic, she couldn’t wait to tell her family.
“I called my mom to say, ‘Mom, I got a car!’ But she didn’t believe me,” Nasiri recounted. “They said ‘Everything is so expensive. You just now got to America and started work. How did you get a car?’ … In Afghanistan, girls don’t have cars.”
Nasiri sent them photos of her new ride. Soon, all of her relatives in Kabul were calling to congratulate her.
Nasiri used to walk 42 minutes to get to work, sometimes in gnarly winter weather. Now, driving, it takes her just five or six minutes.
Nasiri said she spends her extra time before work practicing driving. Nasiri hadn’t learned to drive in Afghanistan, but she got her learner’s permit at the BMV soon after she got to the U.S. Now she can prepare for the road test.
And Nasiri isn’t the only one who benefits from the car. She said a total of six Afghan refugees are using her car to learn to drive. Her Afghan neighbors use it to go to work, the store, or the doctor’s office. In fact, when one of her neighbors went into labor around midnight, she got to the hospital in Nasiri’s car.
“I love my car,” Nasiri said, beaming. “Sometimes when I see the baby, I think of my car.”
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Here are the answers to a few brief questions that WTW asked Ms. Nasiri:
What was it like getting the car?
I was so excited and and couldn’t believe that I have my first ever car. I and my whole family and friends were very happy and excited about it.
How has the car helped you so far?
It brought a big change in my lifestyle. Helped me with getting on time to work, shopping, family visits, etc.
What was going on in your life when you got your car?
Before I didn’t have a car life was kinda challenging and boring for me and always relied on others, but now I’m very happy that I can do the things myself and how and when I want it.
What is the best part of being a car owner?
Being a car owner means that you can rely on yourself, follow your own schedule, and get to a point on time and whenever it’s needed.
Is there anything else that you want to add? Is there anything that you would like me to add about yourself?
I just want to thank and appreciate your organization’s help for supporting the needed and newcomer people like myself with the vehicles which is a very essential thing in life and needed for almost everything.
