'I am very thankful': Pittsburgh woman’s family now safely out of Afghanistan thanks to help from social worker at Catholic Charities

9:12 PM EDT Aug 26, 2021

Catholic Charities helped the woman in her pregnancy and parenting but asked for help in getting her parents who worked in the Dutch Embassy out of Afghanistan.

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PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh area woman's family is now safely out of Afghanistan. A social worker at Catholic Charities in Pittsburgh, with no training in this area, took up her cause and made it happen.

Pittsburgh's Action News 4 is not naming the woman who was helped, out of concern for her family's safety.

Catholic Charities helped the woman in her pregnancy and parenting but she asked for help in getting her parents who worked in the Dutch Embassy out of Afghanistan.

"I was willing to help out, but a little overwhelmed by the situation. So I told her I'd think about it, get some more resources," Rachel Friend, a social worker at Catholic Charities said.

The woman talked about how hard life currently is in Afghanistan.

"Especially for my sister, for my mother. Everybody is scared. No work, no anything. So every day is hard, hard life in there," the woman said.

"I called the Dutch Embassy in Washington, D.C., and asked them if they were able to point us in any kind of direction. We were able to give them all of her family's information and their location and they forwarded it on to their crisis team," Heather Atwood, a social worker at Catholic Charities said.

On Tuesday, they got word that Dutch Special Forces had gotten her family out and safely to the Netherlands.

"I am very happy and very thankful for this place and the member of this place. I don't know how to say thank you," the woman said.

Source: WTAE-TV Pittsburgh