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MURRAY — Big Ocean Women, Roots of Peace, Salt Lake Interfaith Round Table and other community members will hold an interfaith prayer vigil on Saturday evening in support of Afghan refugees living in Utah and their family and friends still in Afghanistan. The organizers hope this vigil will be replicated by religious groups across the country.
In a press release, Big Ocean Women called the event "a way to offer our solidarity and support to this community who is now suffering extreme sadness and grief amidst the harrowing events in their mother country" and invites "those seeking a way to show compassion and kindness to this community" to join them in Murray Park at 5 p.m. Prayers will be offered by various religious leaders, including local imams, and there will be special musical number by a local children's choir.
"People might not realize that there are up to 400 families living in Utah from Afghanistan from all different provinces. They love coming to Utah because of word of mouth about the family values, and Utah with its mountains and topography looks much like Afghanistan," said Holly Sweeten, the main organizer of the vigil with Big Ocean Women.
As Sweeten has been in contact with these families, she has seen the toll that the current situation in Afghanistan has been taking on them, with their families trapped in the country under Taliban rule along with over 500,000 internally displaced people seeking refuge.
"We're dead in the water right now. The embassy's closed. There are people with petitions to get out of Afghanistan, but there is no way to interview them to get them out. The state department has given them recommendation to get to another country, but that's impossible right now with the Taliban on the borders. Some of these families have been up for days, not sleeping, texting family members — and that puts them in danger, too, if the Taliban takes their phone," she said.
Sweeten says she's hoping the vigil will offer "an expression of support and solidarity to come together in prayer and to plead for peace in Afghanistan."
As someone who has worked closely with the former refugees in Utah, people have been reaching out to her and asking her to help get their family members out of Afghanistan. Other members of the community have flooded Sweeten's inbox asking for ways to help the people suffering in the country. She put together this vigil to allow the Afghan families to come together and feel supported, as well as to be able to share ways that people within the community can help.
"There is something you can do. We want to get together on a very grassroots to get the family members together to show our support. You can come and meet with them and offer our expression of friendship. Hopefully, it will be a wave and carry it across the country as an option for people who would like to help and do something," Sweeten said.
Big Ocean Women has connected with religious leaders, in particular, to build on the common ground between Utahns and Afghans: a tradition of deep religious faith. Sweeten added that people of all faiths, and even with those don't have faith "coming together in goodwill can be a tremendous power and lead to the beginning of healing."
Heidi Kuhn, founder and CEO of Roots of Peace, a nonprofit focused on creating peace through agriculture, has 360 employees trapped in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in the middle of harvest season. It's been a nonstop effort for her and her team to work with U.S. Department of State officials to find ways to help her employees get out of the country and organizing ways to bring the food Roots of Peace grows to the hungry people in need in the country.
And as a female CEO of an American organization, she could be particularly at risk from the terrorist organization — but, she says, she has a job to do in a community that is 80% agriculture, and she's "leading with faith and not fear."
"Nature does not wait for peace treaties to be signed. The fruits are ripe in Afghanistan," she said. "But there is no way that I can do this by myself. I believe we are all daughters and sons of Abraham. I am holding hands with my Muslim sisters in Afghanistan. I don't know where this is going, and I probably have a great big target on my head, but I'm betting on my better angels."
Roots of Peace is hoping to launch a movement for peace everywhere using #rootsofpeace by planting something that will bring new life.
"Get down on your knees to touch the earth and dig deeper for peace. Plant a seed, plant a flower, plant a fruit tree. Take a photo of yourself and share it. When we get down on our knees, that is the only time in which we can plant," she said.
The local organizations will also provide information on more ways for the community to help at the event.
