SLU Student Helps Other New Immigrants Feel at Home by Working with Afghan Chamber of Commerce

ST. LOUIS - Sahar Hussaini knows where she would be if she hadn’t immigrated to the United States three years ago from Afghanistan.

“I’d be at home in Kabul doing housework and chores,” she said.

Instead, she thrives as a first-year college student at Saint Louis University’s Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business. The academic sophomore is majoring in marketing and when she isn’t studying, she is helping business owners and new immigrants as a board member of the newly formed Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Afghan Community Center in St. Louis.

The Center opened in February at 3611 S. Grand Blvd. It is sponsored by the International Institute of St. Louis. The Center hosts courses in English, entrepreneurship skills and financial literacy for Afghans in the region wishing to explore business opportunities.

“It is open to everybody and we welcome any one who wants to come by to show support,” she said.

Hussaini said she was inspired to work with the Chamber because she wanted to give back to the St. Louis Afghan community that had given so much to her. She arrived in St. Louis nearly three years ago, with her siblings and mother. They joined her father who was already in the area.

She arrived in St. Louis just as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and businesses. She began her U.S. high school education online, not yet speaking English.

Members of the St. Louis Afghan community were instrumental in helping Hussaini learn about her new home and work on her English language skills. Now she gives back by working with young people and planning upcoming events for the Chamber.

“We are going to do an art day where we paint murals around the building,” she said.

Hussaini is an artist herself and hopes to incorporate her art into her career. She plans to open her own arts organization that gives back to people from war-torn countries.

The resources available at the Afghan Chamber will help her when the time comes.

“I want to open my own business someday,” she said. “I’m getting the chance right now to take what I’m learning in my classes and apply those techniques with the Chamber, but I also get to learn how to operate a business. The Chamber members are helping me work towards my goals.”

Hussaini said she chose SLU because of the University’s mission.

“I liked that learning isn’t separate from the whole person – we are learning how to be a part of the world here,” she said.