Once a refugee seeking safety in the U.S., Anita Omary is using what she learned to help others thrive.
In March 2023, after months of preparation and paperwork, Anita Omary arrived in the United States from her native Afghanistan to build a better life. Once she arrived in Connecticut, however, the experience was anything but easy.
“When I first arrived, everything felt so strange—the weather, the environment, the people,” Omary recalled. Omary had not only left behind her extended family and friends in Afghanistan, she left her career managing child protective cases and supporting refugee communities behind as well. Even more challenging, Anita was five months pregnant at the time, and because her husband was unable to obtain a travel visa, she found herself having to navigate a new language, a different culture, and an unfamiliar country entirely on her own.
“I went through a period of deep disappointment and depression, where I wasn’t able to do much for myself,” Omary said.
Then something incredible happened: Omary met a woman who would become her close friend, offering support that would change her experience as a refugee—and ultimately the trajectory of her entire life.
Understanding the journey
Like Anita Omary, tens of thousands of people come to the United States each year seeking safety from war, political violence, religious persecution, and other threats. Yet escaping danger, unfortunately, is only the first challenge. Once here, immigrant and refugee families must deal with the loss of displacement, while at the same time facing language barriers, adapting to a new culture, and sometimes even facing social stigma and anti-immigrant biases.
Welcoming immigrant and refugee neighbors strengthens the nation and benefits everyone—and according to Anita Omary, small, simple acts of human kindness can make the greatest difference in helping them feel safe, valued, and truly at home.
A warm welcome
Dee and Omary's son, Osman
Anita Omary was receiving prenatal checkups at a woman’s health center in West Haven when she met Dee, a nurse.
“She immediately recognized that I was new, and that I was struggling,” Omary said. “From that moment on, she became my support system.”
Dee started checking in on Omary throughout her pregnancy, both inside the clinic and out.
“She would call me and ask am I okay, am I eating, am I healthy,” Omary said. “She helped me with things I didn’t even realize I needed, like getting an air conditioner for my small, hot room.”
Soon, Dee was helping Omary apply for jobs and taking her on driving lessons every weekend. With her help, Omary landed a job, passed her road test on the first attempt, and even enrolled at the University of New Haven to pursue her master’s degree. Dee and Omary became like family. After Omary’s son, Osman, was born, Dee spent five days in the hospital at her side, bringing her halal food and brushing her hair in the same way Omary’s mother used to. When Omary’s postpartum pain became too great for her to lift Osman’s car seat, Dee accompanied her to his doctor’s appointments and carried the baby for her.
“Her support truly changed my life,” Omary said. “Her motivation, compassion, and support gave me hope. It gave me a sense of stability and confidence. I didn’t feel alone, because of her.”
More than that, the experience gave Omary a new resolve to help other people.
“That experience has deeply shaped the way I give back,” she said. “I want to be that source of encouragement and support for others that my friend was for me.”
Extending the welcome
Omary and Dee at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Vision Awards ceremony at the University of New Haven.
Omary is now flourishing. She currently works as a career development specialist as she continues her Master’s degree. She also, as a member of the Refugee Storytellers Collective, helps advocate for refugee and immigrant families by connecting them with resources—and teaches local communities how to best welcome newcomers.
“Welcoming new families today has many challenges,” Omary said. “One major barrier is access to English classes. Many newcomers, especially those who have just arrived, often put their names on long wait lists and for months there are no available spots.” For women with children, the lack of available childcare makes attending English classes, or working outside the home, especially difficult.
Omary stresses that sometimes small, everyday acts of kindness can make the biggest difference to immigrant and refugee families.
“Welcome is not about big gestures, but about small, consistent acts of care that remind you that you belong,” Omary said. Receiving a compliment on her dress or her son from a stranger in the grocery store was incredibly uplifting during her early days as a newcomer, and Omary remembers how even the smallest gestures of kindness gave her hope that she could thrive and build a new life here.
“I built my new life, but I didn’t do it alone,” Omary said. “Community and kindness were my greatest strengths.”
Are you in? Click here to join the Refugee Advocacy Lab and sign the #WeWillWelcome pledge and complete one small act of welcome in your community. Together, with small, meaningful steps, we can build communities where everyone feels safe.
This article is part of Upworthy’s “The Threads Between U.S.” series that highlights what we have in common thanks to the generous support from the Levi Strauss Foundation, whose grantmaking is committed to creating a culture of belonging.
Family baking fun in the kitchen.
Three generations smiling by the sea.
8-year-old has perfect response to sexist, outdated homework. The teacher marked it wrong.
The assignment, first written in 1997, is more than a few years behind the times.
8-year-old brings home outdated, sexist homework assignment and goes viral for her response.
Problems like sexism and racism don't just pop up out of nowhere in adulthood. These prejudices are deeply embedded in culture, and the seeds of them are sown from a young age. Telling boys they can't like pink, pushing girls to play with princesses and dolls, and sometimes, it gets even more blatant than that.
A dad named Robert Sutcliffe recently shared what happened when his 8-year-old daughter brought home a worksheet with a... let's called it outdated... question on it.
Sutcliffe shared a picture of his daughter’s homework, which focused on a basic English lesson. The homework was designed to teach the students the concept and use of “ur” in words and how they are pronounced. Many questions featured words containing the letter “ur” to teach students how to use them.
One question, however, stood out — not just for its content, but for how the teacher marked Sutcliffe's daughter's response.
The question clue read “Hospital Lady” followed by a blank for the students to fill in. Sutcliffe’s 8-year-old wrote down a reasonable and logical (and correct) answer: "Surgeon."
The teacher, in red pen, offered a correction that had the Internet up in arms.
Despite the student filling in the word “surgeon,” the teacher sent back the sheet with a correction “or nurse.”
The creators of the worksheet may have meant "nurse" when they wrote out the question, but "surgeon" is a perfectly acceptable and accurate answer. Technically, the teacher didn't mark the girl's answer as wrong, but there was really no need to correct it.
The best part? Sutcliffe and his wife are both surgeons, which is likely where their daughter learned to see through the common stereotype.
People in the comments weren't too pleased with how the teacher handled this scenario:
“Teacher excels at passive-aggressive marking, bravo," wrote one.
“I wonder if she had written nurse, would the teacher have written surgeon," said another.
But the overwhelming sentiment in the response to Sutcliffe's post was a resounding round of applause for his whip-smart daughter.
“More power to your daughter! Go girl! Be anything you want to be.”
“Nurse = 'hospital lady' will be disconcerting for the 10% of nurses who are gentlemen.”
"And then people get furious if you dare to suggest that gender roles have anything to do with societal pressure.”
“Good on her, gender should know no bounds.”
Practicing physicians are more likely to be men, but that ratio has been rapidly shrinking. The latest polls show that about 39% of doctors are women and women currently outnumber men in America's medical school programs. About 12% of nurses, too, are men – not an insignificant number.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Attitudes and stereotypes, however, lag several years behind. So, too, do the textbooks our kids use. Eagle-eyed social media users noted that the homework Sutcliffe's daughter brought home was designed in 1997. More concerning than the slight but unnecessary correction by the teacher are the horribly outdated educational materials our kids are bringing home. No matter how you slice Sutcliffe's assignment, it doesn't meet the standard for education in 2025.
This article originally appeared 3 months ago. It has been updated.