Folks fleeing violence and persecution could be haunted by their traumas for a very long time, even after they’ve discovered security in a new place. And youngsters are notably susceptible. Rhitu Chatterjee has the story of a boy who fled Afghanistan and has not too long ago settled 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 susceptible. 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 identify is Rhitu.
MUJIB: My identify is Mujib.
CHATTERJEE: Good to satisfy 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 together 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 vegatables and fruits. Mujib remembers spending a lot of the summer season evenings doing the factor he liked most.
MUJIB: (By interpreter) After I got here dwelling from college, I’d play with kites on the roof of my home.
CHATTERJEE: Typically taking part in kite combating, 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) Once they noticed me flying kites, they might take down their kites. There was one who rivaled my talent. I might 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 quite a lot 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 compelled 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 dwelling a number of instances. 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 the whole lot.
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: (By interpreter) We did not sleep on a regular basis. We have been scared. When there was any noise, we have been considering the way to run from dwelling. For instance, if the Taliban got here from this aspect, how might we leap over the wall and run?
CHATTERJEE: Lastly, in 2023, they obtained permission to depart the nation along with her two youngest sons. Earlier this yr, they arrived in Lewiston, Maine, a metropolis now dwelling to a couple 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 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 persistent 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 probably the most. Khadija says he is simply triggered by sudden noises.
RAHMANI: (By 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 anxiousness.
RAHMANI: (By interpreter) He mentioned to me, Mom, I do not wish to go to high school. 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 just see in a younger boy like that, these are expectable while you’ve been by way of the kind of horrifying, traumatic occasions that he is been by way of.
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 resulting from armed battle and compelled migration have elevated dangers for issues with melancholy, anxiousness, 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 endure probably the most. However it may be troublesome for youths like Mujib too, as a result of their mother and father are sometimes struggling as nicely.
BETANCOURT: Mother and father could really feel stigma in mentioning their very own struggles with issues like melancholy or anxiousness, 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, identical to Mujib’s mother and father.
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 not too long ago 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 to be taught this language, as a result of now we have a tough time not realizing the language.
CHATTERJEE: Regardless of their very own stress, Khadija and her husband have been making an attempt to assist Mujib. She tries to spice up Mujib’s confidence so he feels higher about going to high school.
RAHMANI: (By interpreter) To encourage him, I say nobody is healthier than you. Nobody is extra good-looking than you.
CHATTERJEE: She’s been making an attempt to assist together with his English classes and reassuring him that they’re protected right here. However she says he is nonetheless hypervigilant.
RAHMANI: (By 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 direction of settling into his new life. Mujib says he is beginning to take pleasure in college.
MUJIB: (By interpreter) I like studying English. I like enjoying soccer. I additionally just like the health club. I like all types of issues.
CHATTERJEE: He is even made new pals, an enormous 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 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”)
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content might not be in its closing type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could differ. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.