High School Students Collect Coins to Help Newcomers do Laundry

September 28, 2022

Maryland | Lamia and Ezat: High school student and community organizer Lamia Ayaz teamed up with fellow student Ezat Sharifi to create a campaign at their school to collect coins for Afghan newcomers who had access to laundry facilities, but no coins to operate the machines. A dozen other schools in their Maryland county mounted the same fundraising campaign, raising a total of $1,200. Epitomizing “no act of welcome is too small,” the pair was grateful to have presented the money they raised to a group of Afghan newcomers. Thanks to Ezat’s translation skills, Lamia was able to present the money to newcomers from all over Afghanistan. Several of the newcomers remarked that they knew where Ezat was from because of the way he spoke and he told them that it was the first time ever that he was able to communicate, in his native language, with people who weren’t a part of his family.