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 lately 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. Youngsters are particularly weak. NPR’s Rhitu Chatterjee has a narrative of a boy and his household who fled Afghanistan and who at the moment are settled within the U.S.
RHITU CHATTERJEE, BYLINE: Hiya.
MUJIB UR RAHMAN: Hiya. How are you at this time, good?
CHATTERJEE: I am good. How are you?
MUJIB: I am good.
CHATTERJEE: My identify is Rhitu.
MUJIB: My identify is Mujib.
CHATTERJEE: Good to fulfill you, Mujib.
I meet 12-year-old Mujib Ur Rahman at his new dwelling – a small, sparsely furnished condo in Lewiston, Maine. He moved right here in January along with his mother and father and an older brother. The brothers grew up in Afghanistan’s third-largest metropolis, Herat, the place they’ve a home with an enormous backyard the place they grew vegetables and fruit. Mujib remembers spending many of the summer season evenings doing the factor he liked most.
MUJIB: (Via interpreter) After I got here dwelling from faculty, I might play with kites on the roof of my home.
CHATTERJEE: Typically taking part in kite preventing, a beloved custom in Afghanistan the place folks attempt to minimize 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 might take down their kites. There was one who rivaled my talent. I may by no means free his kite. We have 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 lots of scary issues proper in entrance of individuals’s eyes – for instance, hitting and stabbing folks with knives. I assumed they might come to my dwelling and arrest me and beat me too.
CHATTERJEE: Mujib’s mom, Khadija Rahmani, labored as a nurse and girls’s rights advocate. A part of her job was to determine an advocate for women and girls who have been pressured into marriage or have been victims of home violence. And that made her a goal for the Taliban.
KHADIJA RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) They searched our dwelling a number of occasions. And I went to neighbor’s home to cover. They have been looking my home and ruined all my stuff, our beds, garments. They destroyed every part.
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, always weary.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) We did not sleep on a regular basis. We have been scared. When there was any noise, we have been pondering how one can run from dwelling. For instance, if the Taliban got here from this aspect, how may we soar 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 dwelling to some resettled communities, together with Somali and Bhutanese. With assist from the local people, the Rahmanis discovered their rental condo in a three-story New England home.
RAHMANI: (Non-English language spoken).
CHATTERJEE: Serving cardamom-flavored tea and dried apricot and almonds in a front room, Khadija says she’s grateful to be right here.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) We thank God a thousand occasions that we will begin our life anew right here.
CHATTERJEE: However the power 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 night time as a result of I nonetheless have that trauma from Taliban’s regime in my mind.
CHATTERJEE: And 12-year-old Mujib has struggled probably the most. Khadija says he is simply triggered by sudden noises.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) He will get pale. His respiratory 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 faculty has additionally stuffed him with anxiousness.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) He stated to me, Mom, I do not need to go to highschool. Everybody’s bullying me. I do not like this faculty. 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 just see in a younger boy like that, these are expectable while you’ve been via the type of scary, traumatic occasions that he is been via.
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 result of armed battle and compelled migration have elevated dangers for issues with despair, anxiousness, traumatic stress reactions and even challenges with belief and social interactions.
CHATTERJEE: She says youngsters who’ve misplaced a guardian or been separated from them undergo probably the most. However it may be tough for youths like Mujib too, as a result of their mother and father are sometimes struggling as properly.
BETANCOURT: Mother and father might really feel stigma in mentioning their very own struggles with issues like despair or anxiousness, and so they could also be involved about discussing their kid’s emotional, behavioral issues too.
CHATTERJEE: And so they’re overwhelmed as they attempt to adapt to a brand new nation, similar to Mujib’s mother and father.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) And I actively on the lookout for work, so we will have the cash to run the household.
CHATTERJEE: Khadija and her husband lately received part-time jobs at a FedEx packaging facility. She desires to work as a nurse once more, however she must be fluent in English first.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) We’ve got to be taught this language, as a result of we’ve a tough time not realizing the language.
CHATTERJEE: Regardless of their very own stress, Khadija and her husband have been making an attempt to help 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 best than you. Nobody is extra good-looking than you.
CHATTERJEE: She’s been making an attempt to assist along with his English classes and reassuring him that they’re secure right here. However she says he is nonetheless hypervigilant.
RAHMANI: (Via interpreter) He discovered that this home has two exits. Considered one of 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 take pleasure in faculty.
MUJIB: (Via interpreter) I like studying English. I like taking part in soccer. I additionally just like the fitness center. I like all types of issues.
CHATTERJEE: He is even made new buddies, an enormous 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 dwelling and my canine.
CHATTERJEE: Greater than something, he misses flying kites, a lot that he generally even cries about it.
Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR Information.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUSTAF LJUNGGREN’S “LEADING SOMEWHERE”)
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