Working for over three decades at Chabot College, which serves many immigrant communities, my colleagues and I taught and developed support programs for Afghan students meeting them at the often-challenging crossroads of their lives. We bore witness to their struggles and successes as they and their families became woven into the very fabric of our community. Many are now medical workers, skilled technologists and teachers, as well as elected American political leaders who give back to their communities.
In 2020, only about .1 percent of the mainland population was made up of foreigners, according to one estimate by researchers from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. That's roughly 1.4 million people in a country of more than 1.4 billion. In the United States, by contrast, 15 percent of the population is made up of immigrants. Even other East Asian nations, like Japan and South Korea, are home to far more foreigners than China
Younger immigrant members of the time bank often offer assistance with household tasks, like carrying heavy things up the stairs. She recalled a story of members rallying to help a woman in her 50s who had to leave her home on short notice. They moved boxes, painted walls and stripped floors to make her fixer-upper livable. In return, Albright said, immigrants often request help with navigating challenging systems, like health care appointments.
