The Afghan Village Restaurant was opened by Omer Yousafzai in 2012 and was one of the first Afghan restaurants in Houston. It is a family-style restaurant where everyone who comes to eat is treated like family. The meals are halal. The bilingual waiters are friendly and welcoming.

Omer opened the restaurant after serving as a military recruiter for the U.S. in Afghanistan. Everyone on the military bases were grateful for a taste of Afghan cuisine instead of the bland food served there. This inspired Omer to open his restaurant and bring a taste of Afghanistan to Houston. The Afghan Village provides free meals to those who can’t afford it. They also provide meals for newly arrived refugees, helping with the government requirement that official sponsors must provide one culturally appropriate ready-to-eat meal for newcomers. Omer works with many different refugee resettlement agencies in Houston including Refugee Services of Texas, the YMCA, the Alliance, and Interfaith.

Address: 6413 Hillcroft St, Houston TX, 77081
Hours: Opens 7 Days a Week 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Omer Yousafzai, owner of the Afghan Village, also opened Afghan Halal Market in 2016, the first Afghan grocery store in Houston. Afghan halal market sells fresh halal meat, dried fruits, rice, fresh and frozen food, Indian, Afghan, and Pakistani spices, as well as other Afghan groceries.

Address: 6409 Hillcroft St, Houston, TX, 77081
Hours: 7 Days a Week 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Audry launched his apparel company in fall of 2020. The idea behind the company is to give people more options and ways to express their style. AM Apparel has a “customer is always right” mindset and seeks to build relationships with customers. The company is based in Houston but ships worldwide and has free returns within the U.S.

Audry Musha started AM Photography HTX in the summer of 2020. He bought an entry-level camera and, with the help of his dad, who also has a background in photography and videography, learned how to use it. He has completed over 300 photoshoots, averaging a 5-star rating across multiple platforms. AM PHOTOGRAPHY specializes in family photos, portraits, engagements photos, and graduation photos, but they also do weddings, maternity, corporate, newborn, and sports photoshoots. The company offers video services, including music videos and weddings. They are located in Houston, but they also shoot destination weddings.

Personal Website: https://www.audrymusha.com/

Craft Pita is a locally owned Lebanese restaurant that works with refugee organizations like RST and Plant It Forward. Chef Rafael Nasr serves as an advisory council member at RST and believes food is a way to bring awareness to Houston's refugee community. He aims to bring the community together for a healthy and delicious meal inspired by traditions of the Mediterranean.

Craft Pita's produce is grown locally by family farms and organizations that benefit the people in the local community. Their olive oil is imported from the region in Lebanon that Chef Rafael's family owns an olive orchard. Craft Pita was featured on Yelp's Top 100 places to eat in Texas in 2021 sitting at number 51!

Craft Pita will be serving Rose Water Lemonade to the PlF x RST event on June18th in honor of World Refugee Day.

Address: 1920 Fountain View Dr., Houston, TX 77057
Hours: Monday to Sunday 11AM - 8PM
Happy Hour: Everyday from 3PM - 6PM

Jennifer Sebasigari is a professional chef based out of Houston Texas. Her experience as a chef includes cooking in places like Walt Disney Park and Resorts in Orlando, Florida, and Texas Oxheart in Houston. Jennifer provides catering services, cooking lessons, engages in pop up restaurants and helps create charity events with local and international chefs. Jennifer also has a juice company called Jennyandthejuice that provides cold pressed fruits and vegetable juices that are 100% all natural with no water, sugar, preservatives or spices added. She intends to expand her brand worldwide and continues to gain more experience in the field that she loves.

Lamyaa bakes from her home. She specializes in Arabic sweets and Sudanese bread (kisra). Lamyaa started a baking business in Sudan while she was in university. It started small, with her making baklava and basbousa to sell in supermarkets and to other people. Soon she expanded her horizons and added biscuits, cakes, and cupcakes to her list. Lamyaa gained employees and baked for bigger events like birthdays and weddings. She sold her baked goods at schools, supermarkets, public, and government places. Her business was very successful when she left Sudan. Now that she is in Houston, Lamyaa is very hopeful she will be able to build up a successful baking business again.

Contact info:
Phone: 281-889-3764

Plant It Forward (PIF) is a Houston, Texas-based nonprofit organization with the mission to empower refugees to develop sustainable farming businesses that produce fresh, healthy food for our community. PIF envisions thriving farmers, enriching Houston’s vibrant culture.

PIF is Houston's largest networks of urban farms. They secure land, train and mentor farmers, and facilitate sales at local markets.

Plant it forward offers weekly bundles of freshly-harvested local produce. They deliver to 20+ different neighborhood pick up locations and 30+ zip codes every week. PIF holds multiple events every month including an upcoming World Refugee Day community fair and potluck.