Folks fleeing violence and persecution will be haunted by their traumas for a very long time, even after they’ve discovered security in a new place. And youngsters are notably weak. Rhitu Chatterjee has the story of a boy who fled Afghanistan and has not too long ago settled in Maine.
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When individuals who fled violence and persecution come to a brand new nation as refugees, the toll of what they’ve skilled can hang-out them for a very long time, even after they’re bodily secure. Kids are particularly weak. NPR’s Rhitu Chatterjee has a narrative of a boy and his household who fled Afghanistan and who are actually settled within the U.S.
RHITU CHATTERJEE, BYLINE: Good day.
MUJIB UR RAHMAN: Good day. How are you immediately, good?
CHATTERJEE: I am good. How are you?
MUJIB: I am good.
CHATTERJEE: My title is Rhitu.
MUJIB: My title is Mujib.
CHATTERJEE: Good to fulfill you, Mujib.
I meet 12-year-old Mujib Ur Rahman at his new house – a small, sparsely furnished condominium in Lewiston, Maine. He moved right here in January together with his dad and mom and an older brother. The brothers grew up in Afghanistan’s third-largest metropolis, Herat, the place they’ve a home with a giant backyard the place they grew fruit and veggies. Mujib remembers spending a lot of the summer time evenings doing the factor he liked most.
MUJIB: (Via interpreter) After I got here house from college, I might play with kites on the roof of my home.
CHATTERJEE: Typically collaborating in kite preventing, a beloved custom in Afghanistan the place individuals attempt to reduce others’ kite strings with their very own and set the others’ kite free. Mujib beams as he brags about how most of his neighbors feared his kite-fighting expertise.
MUJIB: (Via interpreter) After they noticed me flying kites, they’d take down their kites. There was one who rivaled my talent. I may by no means free his kite. We had been in competitors.
CHATTERJEE: However life as Mujib knew it got here to a halt in 2021 when the Taliban took management of the nation.
MUJIB: (Via interpreter) They did plenty of scary issues proper in entrance of individuals’s eyes – for instance, hitting and stabbing individuals with knives. I assumed they’d come to my house and arrest me and beat me too.
CHATTERJEE: Mujib’s mom, Khadija Rahmani, labored as a nurse and ladies’s rights advocate. A part of her job was to establish an advocate for women and girls who had been compelled into marriage or had been victims of home violence. And that made her a goal for the Taliban.
KHADIJA RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) They searched our house a number of occasions. And I went to neighbor’s home to cover. They had been looking out my home and ruined all my stuff, our beds, garments. They destroyed every little thing.
CHATTERJEE: So she, her husband and her two youthful sons, Mujib and his then 17-year-old brother, Munib, stayed in hiding at a relative’s home, continually weary.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) We did not sleep on a regular basis. We had been scared. When there was any noise, we had been considering the best way to run from house. For instance, if the Taliban got here from this facet, how may we bounce over the wall and run?
CHATTERJEE: Lastly, in 2023, they acquired permission to depart the nation together with her two youngest sons. Earlier this yr, they arrived in Lewiston, Maine, a metropolis now house to some resettled communities, together with Somali and Bhutanese. With assist from the area people, the Rahmanis discovered their rental condominium in a three-story New England home.
RAHMANI: (Non-English language spoken).
CHATTERJEE: Serving cardamom-flavored tea and dried apricot and almonds in a lounge, Khadija says she’s grateful to be right here.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) We thank God a thousand occasions that we are able to begin our life anew right here.
CHATTERJEE: However the continual stress of the previous few years nonetheless haunts them.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) My husband and I stayed awake till 1:30 to 2 or 3 o’clock at evening as a result of I nonetheless have that trauma from Taliban’s regime in my mind.
CHATTERJEE: And 12-year-old Mujib has struggled essentially the most. Khadija says he is simply triggered by sudden noises.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) He will get pale. His respiration will get exhausting. He panics and tries to expire of the home. As soon as there was a knock on the door, and he began crying. His face turned yellow.
CHATTERJEE: She says college has additionally stuffed him with nervousness.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) He mentioned to me, Mom, I do not need to go to highschool. Everybody’s bullying me. I do not like this college. I do not perceive the language, and I do not perceive in any respect.
CHATTERJEE: And that is to be anticipated, says Theresa Betancourt.
THERESA BETANCOURT: The responses that you simply see in a younger boy like that, these are expectable if you’ve been by the form of horrifying, traumatic occasions that he is been by.
CHATTERJEE: Betancourt directs the analysis program on youngsters and adversity at Boston Faculty.
BETANCOURT: We all know from years of analysis now that youngsters uncovered to violence, separation and loss as a consequence of armed battle and compelled migration have elevated dangers for issues with despair, nervousness, traumatic stress reactions and even challenges with belief and social interactions.
CHATTERJEE: She says youngsters who’ve misplaced a mum or dad or been separated from them undergo essentially the most. However it may be troublesome for teenagers like Mujib too, as a result of their dad and mom are sometimes struggling as nicely.
BETANCOURT: Mother and father could really feel stigma in mentioning their very own struggles with issues like despair or nervousness, and so they could also be involved about discussing their kid’s emotional, behavioral issues too.
CHATTERJEE: They usually’re overwhelmed as they attempt to adapt to a brand new nation, similar to Mujib’s dad and mom.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) And I actively searching for work, so we are able to have the cash to run the household.
CHATTERJEE: Khadija and her husband not too long ago received part-time jobs at a FedEx packaging facility. She needs to work as a nurse once more, however she must be fluent in English first.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) We have now to be taught this language, as a result of now we have a tough time not understanding the language.
CHATTERJEE: Regardless of their very own stress, Khadija and her husband have been attempting to assist Mujib. She tries to spice up Mujib’s confidence so he feels higher about going to highschool.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) To encourage him, I say nobody is healthier than you. Nobody is extra good-looking than you.
CHATTERJEE: She’s been attempting to assist together with his English classes and reassuring him that they’re secure right here. However she says he is nonetheless hypervigilant.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) He found out that this home has two exits. One among them is for escaping.
CHATTERJEE: In case somebody breaks in. However he has made progress in the direction of settling into his new life. Mujib says he is beginning to get pleasure from college.
MUJIB: (Via interpreter) I like studying English. I like taking part in soccer. I additionally just like the health club. I like all types of issues.
CHATTERJEE: He is even made new buddies, a giant step on this main transition. However he is nonetheless homesick.
MUJIB: (Via interpreter) The very first thing that I miss is our backyard, the remainder of my household, my land, my house and my canine.
CHATTERJEE: Greater than something, he misses flying kites, a lot that he typically even cries about it.
Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR Information.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUSTAF LJUNGGREN’S “LEADING SOMEWHERE”)
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