Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visited San Antonio over the weekend to see how their foundation is having an impact on women who have resettled in San Antonio.
The formerly royal couple since July have funded local nonprofit Culturingua’s efforts to address social isolation among Afghan women through the nonprofit Harry and Meghan created, the Archewell Foundation.
San Antonio is one of the foundation’s 11 active Welcome Projects across the U.S. Each project has a local community partner to foster “a sense of belonging” for recently resettled Afghan women through activities like sewing, art, hiking, swimming, photography, storytelling and cooking.
On Friday, the couple arrived at the Family Service Neighborhood Place community center on the West Side for an hour-long visit with members of the Afghan community, learning about different foods, refugee women’s sewing skills, and their experiences.
Meghan gave remarks about how impactful local programs are to Afghan women who experience social isolation after being displaced.
She said her work with London’s Hubb Community Kitchen— Hubb meaning “love” in Arabic— inspired the Welcome Projects.
The Duchess put an apron on over her Favorite Daughter jacket called the “Diana,” a subtle nod to her late mother-in-law, before cooking an Afghan flatbread called bolani.
San Antonio’s First Lady Erika Prosper and District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo also participated in the bread making with Afghan women and Meghan on Friday, which happened to be International Women’s Day.
Then, Afghan women shared a colorful spread of dishes they made before Harry and Meghan’s arrival: Rice, mantu (Afghan dumplings), bamia (Afghan okra) and salads.
Culturingua CEO Nadia Mavrakis said the group shared a meaningful moment when they casually gathered in a circle to share words, and then again when Harry and Meghan sat with local Silk Road Cultural Corridor business owners and community stakeholders on a majlis to learn about the local ecosystem for refugee support.
The couple learned about San Antonio’s growing Afghan community, how cricket is helping Afghan students find belonging in San Antonio and heard stories of refugees’ experiences during the 2021 Kabul evacuations.
Prince Harry, who served in Afghanistan with the British Army, spoke about the importance of mental health and not underestimating the impact of small acts like community dinners or conversations.
The group of about 19 Afghan women in the sewing program gifted Meghan and her daughter a hand-sewn dress from the 2023 Annual World Refugee Day Fashion Show, hosted by Culturingua and the City of San Antonio.
After conversations about supporting refugee women’s wellbeing, Harry and Meghan left and the guests dug into the meal.
The program with the Archwell Foundation ends in July, Marvrakis said, and Culturingua has invited the royal couple back to San Antonio in the fall for its annual fashion show which showcases hand-sewn dresses refugee women make.
“To have so many different people coming together from different backgrounds, refugees, non-refugees, politicians, celebrities, everyday regular people, everybody coming together and sharing a meal was really amazing,” Mavrakis said.
A day before their San Antonio visit, Meghan participated in a panel discussion about how women and mothers are portrayed in media on the first day of the annual South by Southwest Conference in Austin.
And on Saturday, the formerly royal couple visited Uvalde for the unveiling of a new playground which features a memorial scavenger hunt to honor the lives lost in the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in 2022.
Their visit comes after a report the Urban Institute published last week, which collected data on Afghan Evacuees’ Resettlement. The study focused on three cities, including San Antonio.
The study found that while refugee women feel stressed, anxious, lonely and homesick being in their new homes, they want to seek opportunities, like getting a job and a driver’s license and meeting other Afghan women, but language and transportation barriers don’t make it easy.
“I want to connect with someone with whom I can freely express my feelings and problems. If I stay at home and have nothing to do, I will get mental problems,” said one San Antonio Afghan refugee woman anonymously in the Urban Institute report.
According to the report, organizing English or sewing classes, and organizing community events around religious holidays like Iftar and Eid would address some of Afghan women’s social isolation.
