I first met Sayed Sadat in December 2021 in Coronado at the home of his benefactor, Mary Danaher. He had just arrived in San Diego after fleeing Afghanistan in September of that same year. With her help and sponsorship, he came here after living at Fort Pickett, an Army National Guard Base, in Virginia for three months. He arrived before Christmas and started his new life here.
This country and culture were still new to him, but with the guidance of his kind sponsor, he learned to adjust to life here which included finding his way around Coronado on a donated bike and later getting his California driver’s license. When I first interviewed him for a story, I asked what his goals for the future were. He replied that his goals were to improve his English, find a job, and get a master’s degree. Almost three years later, I decided to check in and see how he was doing.
He was and is very adept at finding work. Besides working as a journalist in Afghanistan, he had also done a lot of charitable work there, and that sense of wanting to help others continued here.
His first job was as a part-time Youth Mentoring Coordinator at PANA from February 2022 to December 2022. Subsequently, he joined the United Women of East Africa Support Team as a part-time community health worker from January 2023 to April 2024. During this period, he also worked with the International Rescue Committee as a family engagement specialist from April 2023 to June 2024. Currently, he is serving as a Crisis Disaster Counselor with the United Women of East Africa Support Team, commencing in July 2024.
He told me that he feels that he will continue to grow there and hopes to have a meaningful impact.
In wanting to have that meaningful impact, he also started a nonprofit in June 2024. He explained that he had to tackle several steps to get it done, including getting a license for his nonprofit. First, he focused on finding individuals to serve on the management board, seeking out like-minded professionals who shared his passion. They included two of his trusted friends, Coronado musician and artist, Joe Kane, as his chairman, and Irv Kass, who was formerly a news director at NBC news and currently owns a media consulting firm. Once the team was in place, he turned his attention to selecting a name that accurately reflected the organization’s purpose and values.
The name he came up with was Independent Cooperation for Change Organization — ICCO. Then, he worked on crafting a clear and compelling vision, mission statement, and services that would define the work. Finally, he developed a comprehensive policy framework to guide the operations.
Although just starting, he envisions a future where his nonprofit will help to empower refugees by providing access to essential resources, promoting a seamless integration into American society, and fostering cross-cultural understanding. He wants this non-profit to create a platform where refugees can engage with their new community, discover shared values and traditions, and build bridges between their different cultural heritages and American culture.
Ultimately, the mission is to advocate for the equal rights and dignity of refugees, ensuring that they have an opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential, free from barriers and discrimination, so they, in turn, may contribute meaningfully to their new homeland. Of course, in dealing with everyday realities, those goals may not always be so easy to implement, but one has to admire the vision and determination.
As to getting a master’s degree and improving his English, he attended several ESL classes at San Diego Community College Continuing Education, and his English has improved quite a bit. He is also in the process of applying for his master’s degree at San Jose State University, but first he must get his undergraduate degree from Afghanistan evaluated. He would like to get a graduate degree in social work.
His other good friends, Ben and Gina Jacobs, have been helping him with the application process. Sayed has known Ben since he arrived as Ben and the group that he works with, Welcome Home, provided him with his first bike to explore Coronado, and their friendship has grown.
Speaking of friendships, in my first article, I mentioned two Afghan women that he had originally escaped from Afghanistan with. They arrived in San Diego in January of 2022 and were met at the airport by Sayed and Mary. The two women have also thrived since arriving here and their friendship with Sayed is still going strong.
Finally, I asked Joe Kane how Sayed has grown since he arrived in San Diego and he answered, “When Sayed first got here, he was still trying to understand what the new culture was like, what the city was like, what the social environment was like, and where he could look for help and friendship and all those other things we need to survive; and now he has grown by leaps and bounds in those areas. He has become much more competent and comfortable using English, and he knows his way around the city.”
“He knows where to go for resources and information. Moreover, he has also developed as an individual. He has taken on a lot of responsibility and wants to make a difference in the community. I see him doing more in one day than most people do in one week. He works hard and is doing everything he can to improve his life and the lives of those people that he helps. It’s a big task, but he’s rising to that challenge. It has been a difficult and amazing journey, and I’m very happy to be working with him.”
