Over the past few weeks, the IRC in Atlanta has welcomed more than 350 Afghan humanitarian parolees—including pregnant women, babies and young children—to safe new homes in our state.

The IRC’s team of more than 80 local staff are working around the clock to ensure families have everything they need, but our work would not be possible without the support of our incredible welcoming community—especially our Afghan American neighbors here in Georgia.

Storeowner standing next to shelf of goods including biscuits, wafers, and bags of rice.
Baseer Basil is the owner of Kabul Market—a grocery store in Decatur offering traditional Afghan products, freshly baked Afghan bread, fresh cuts of halal meat, accessories, and basic staples like rice and tea.
Photo: IRC Atlanta

Baseer Basil is the owner of Kabul Market—a grocery store in Decatur offering traditional Afghan products, freshly baked Afghan bread, fresh cuts of halal meat, accessories, and basic staples like rice and tea. Originally from Afghanistan, Baseer arrived in the United States through the refugee resettlement program with his wife and school-aged children in 2014, after being forced to flee their home. In Afghanistan, Baseer worked as a journalist, businessman and artist, and was heavily involved in Afghanistan’s arts and culture scene as a chairman in national theatre. He has over 18 years of experience making and selling his products around the world in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. He is also an accomplished artist and still creates paintings and ceramics—some of which you can see today in his store!

Since mid-October, the IRC in Atlanta has purchased more than 100 hot welcome meals from Kabul Market along with countless loaves of traditional Afghan bread

A storeowner standing next to a large oven.
Since mid-October, the IRC in Atlanta has purchased more than 100 hot welcome meals from Kabul Market along with countless loaves of traditional Afghan bread
Photo: IRC Atlanta

The only Afghan grocery store in Georgia, Baseer’s Kabul Market has been an invaluable resource for the community as we welcome families who were recently evacuated by the US. Since mid-October, the IRC in Atlanta has purchased more than 100 hot welcome meals from Kabul Market along with countless loaves of traditional Afghan bread. Our team is incredibly grateful for Baseer’s tireless efforts in ensuring newly arriving families are greeted with culturally appropriate and familiar foods to help them as they adjust to their new lives.

As an active member of Atlanta’s Afghan community, Baseer noticed a lack of access to traditional Afghan products and—working with the IRC in Atlanta’s Microenterprise Development (MED) program—first opened a clothing and accessories business in 2019. In 2020, he expanded to offering grocery items and received financial coaching and a small business loan through the IRC’s MED program to secure a larger space, with room for a huge custom oven to bake delicious Afghan bread and a butchery space, where Baseer receives fresh cuts of halal meat—goat, beef, lamb and chicken—each Friday.

Baseer’s favorite aspect of owning his own business is being able to provide products for his people—the Afghan community. Whenever he learns of a new product his customers want to see in the store, he looks to incorporate it into his inventory.

Justin Howell, Executive Director of the IRC in Atlanta, standing next to Baseer Basil, owner of Kabul Market, inside a store.
Justin Howell, Executive Director of the IRC in Atlanta, and Baseer Basil, owner of Kabul Market.
Photo: IRC Atlanta

Since its launch in 2018, the IRC in Atlanta’s MED program has helped start 67 new Georgia small businesses!

The IRC in Atlanta’s innovative Microenterprise Development (MED) program provides financial coaching, lending services—including business start-up loans and credit-building loans—and training and technical assistance for refugee- and immigrant-owned businesses in Georgia. Since the launch of the MED program in January 2018, the IRC in Atlanta has supported refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs to open 67 new businesses and worked with 76 individuals to strengthen their existing businesses.

Much of the MED program’s success is made possible by Georgia community members who support these growing businesses—as volunteers, donors, interns, mentors and patrons. Please join us in supporting this refugee-owned business and pay a visit to Kabul Market today!

Kabul Market 

A business card for Kabul Market.

Kabul Market is open daily from 10am – 8:30pm and accepts EBT. 

2129 Lawrenceville Highway, Unit M, Decatur, Georgia 30033

Like Kabul Market on Facebook!

Our picks:

A collage of three photos of snacks: on top, a loaf of Afghan bread; in the middle, three Afghan cookies; and on the bottom, a selection of teas on a grocery store shelf.
Pick up a box of lightly spiced Afghan cookies, made by local Afghan women—a perfect gift!
Photo: IRC Atlanta

 

 

To learn more about the work of the IRC in Atlanta and for information on how you can get involved with the IRC as a donor or volunteer, please contact Development Director, Heloise Ahoure, at [email protected] or 678-636-8941.  

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