Last Afghan leaves Camp Atterbury; advocates prepare to continue support

EDINBURGH, Ind. (WISH) — The last of 7,200 Afghan refugees have now left Camp Atterbury, a military and civilian training post under the auspices of the Indiana National Guard.

It’s been a process five months in the making. While this is a major step, supporters said they’ve not reached the end.

Saying the last few months were tough would be an understatement for the hundreds of Afghans who were living at Camp Atterbury, south of Indianapolis in southern Johnson County. In that time, Hoosiers stepped up in massive numbers to help, in an attempt to provide some peace. Now, organizers of the effort finish Phase 1, and Phase 2 picks up immediately.

It’s hard to forget the early images of Afghans trying to escape Kabul, or the first video of buses of families arriving at Camp Atterbury. In some cases, the grief proved obvious, but sprinkled in were glimpses of hope.

“I have a message to the people of the United States. People of the United States have a heart of gold,” Afghan Nahid Sharifi said in an earlier News 8 report.

Early on, Team Rubicon — a national disaster aid organization — was one of the first teams mobilized to provide help and set up safe havens at all seven military bases housing Afghan families. Over the last five months, it’s helped sort through millions of items and collected $34 million in donations.

“I think when this first happened a lot of us were just speechless. We were numb. We just didn’t know kind of how to react, and it was like ‘OK, let’s take a tactical pause. Let’s take a breather,’” said Korey Schrooder with Team Rubicon.

For months, News 8 followed the work and highlighted countless organizations and people who stepped up to teach, collect donations, and provide support.

“We understand there is a spiritual need and there is a mental support need because these families came from a war-torn country,” said Imam Ahmed Alamine in a previous News 8 report.

Then there’s the resettlement agencies, including Exodus Refugee. Since September, it’s helped resettle 330 Afghan evacuees by scheduling doctor’s appointments, doing English classes, and getting kids in school. It’s a tall order, and the work still isn’t done.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do this if it wasn’t for our volunteers willing to step up in their communities to help with this effort,” Schroeder said.

Exodus Refugee in the next four to six months will remain busy to assure families are adjusting and have jobs with incomes to sustain themselves.