How one household of Afghan refugees is adjusting to their new life in Maine

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

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 protected. 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 the moment, 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 satisfy you, Mujib.

I meet 12-year-old Mujib Ur Rahman at his new house – a small, sparsely furnished house in Lewiston, Maine. He moved right here in January along 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 vegetables and fruit. Mujib remembers spending many of the summer season evenings doing the factor he liked most.

MUJIB: (By interpreter) After I got here house from faculty, I might play with kites on the roof of my home.

CHATTERJEE: Usually 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 abilities.

MUJIB: (By interpreter) After they noticed me flying kites, they might take down their kites. There was one who rivaled my ability. 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: (By interpreter) They did plenty of scary issues proper in entrance of individuals’s eyes – for instance, hitting and stabbing folks with knives. I believed they might come to my house 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: (By interpreter) They searched our house a number of instances. And I went to neighbor’s home to cover. They have been looking out my home and ruined all my stuff, our beds, garments. They destroyed every 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, continuously weary.

RAHMANI: (By interpreter) We did not sleep on a regular basis. We have been scared. When there was any noise, we have been pondering learn how to run from house. For instance, if the Taliban got here from this aspect, how may we leap over the wall and run?

CHATTERJEE: Lastly, in 2023, they acquired permission to depart the nation along with her two youngest sons. Earlier this yr, they arrived in Lewiston, Maine, a metropolis now house to a couple resettled communities, together with Somali and Bhutanese. With assist from the area people, the Rahmanis discovered their rental house 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: (By interpreter) We thank God a thousand instances that we will begin our life anew right here.

CHATTERJEE: However the power stress of the previous few years nonetheless haunts them.

RAHMANI: (By 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: (By interpreter) He will get pale. His respiration will get laborious. 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 nervousness.

RAHMANI: (By interpreter) He stated to me, Mom, I do not wish 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 by means of the type of horrifying, traumatic occasions that he is been by means of.

CHATTERJEE: Betancourt directs the analysis program on kids and adversity at Boston School.

BETANCOURT: We all know from years of analysis now that kids uncovered to violence, separation and loss on account of armed battle and compelled migration have elevated dangers for issues with melancholy, nervousness, traumatic stress reactions and even challenges with belief and social interactions.

CHATTERJEE: She says kids 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 effectively.

BETANCOURT: Mother and father might really feel stigma in mentioning their very own struggles with issues like melancholy or nervousness, 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, identical to Mujib’s dad and mom.

RAHMANI: (By interpreter) And I actively in search of work, so we will have the cash to run the household.

CHATTERJEE: Khadija and her husband just lately obtained 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: (By interpreter) We’ve got to study this language, as a result of we have now a tough time not understanding 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: (By 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 protected right here. However she says he is nonetheless hypervigilant.

RAHMANI: (By interpreter) He found out 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 direction of settling into his new life. Mujib says he is beginning to take pleasure in faculty.

MUJIB: (By interpreter) I like studying English. I like taking part in soccer. I additionally just like the gymnasium. 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: (By 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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