“I did not know learn how to go to the airport once more,” Masi stated. “It wasn’t straightforward for me.”
When he and his father, Ahmad Wali Stanekzai, arrived at Kabul International Airport in April, they had been flooded with unhealthy reminiscences of eight months earlier than, when the entire household had joined the crowds in a determined try to go away Afghanistan after the capital fell to the Taliban.
Then there was the explosion — an ISIS-Okay suicide assault. The household was separated within the chaos. His mom was killed; he and his father had been separated from his youthful two siblings, who had been injured.
Now, greater than 4 months after arriving in Qatar from Afghanistan, and greater than a yr after that lethal assault, the household nonetheless is not again collectively.
“I really feel so upset after I keep in mind how we separated and misplaced our mother,” Masi stated.
“I’ve skilled the worst trauma as a toddler,” he informed CNN by way of textual content. “I would like my freedom. I need to reunite with my brother and sister. I need to stay in my home with the remainder of my household.”
The remainder of his household resides in Virginia. His siblings — 14-year-old Faisal and 8-year-old Mina — ultimately made it into their aunt Ferishta Stanekzai’s care after being separated from their dad and mom within the blast final August. Mina and Faisal, together with a neighbor, made it into the airport and onto a airplane to Germany, the place they had been handled for his or her accidents at Landstuhl hospital earlier than coming to the US, the place in addition they acquired remedy at Walter Reed medical heart outdoors of Washington, DC.
The previous yr, and final month specifically, have been troublesome for the household in Virginia, Ferishta stated.
Both of the youngsters are nonetheless working by way of the trauma they skilled. Mina frequently has nightmares, matches of anger, and has at instances begged to go to Qatar to be along with her father and brother, her aunt informed CNN.
“Sometimes she’s asking lots of questions on her mother — why she was killed and why no person helped her,” Ferishta stated.
It has been difficult for Ferishta, too, as she cares for her nephew and niece, offers with each their guardianship case and her brother and different nephew’s case, and likewise works at her regular job.
“Managing this all, the whole lot turns into so onerous for me and day-to-day it will get so onerous managing,” she stated.
“Like in a single day I change into a single mother with out figuring out, like, learn how to enroll the children into faculties. It all was like a brand new expertise for me,” Ferishta added.
Mina, who’s in third grade, informed CNN she likes college. Her favourite topic is bodily schooling. She enjoys “leaping and operating,” and the physician informed her that her leg — which was injured within the assault in Kabul — is okay, however generally it hurts, she stated.
The relations communicate on daily basis. Mina tells her older brother and father that she loves them. Masi will get to listen to about their college. He stated it makes him blissful to see them of their college uniforms.
“I hope I can also put on a college uniform quickly,” Masi informed CNN.
Ferishta stated she desires to see the US authorities work sooner to course of instances, and that she and her household haven’t gotten clear solutions about why her brother and nephew haven’t but been in a position to come to the United States. She and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Bradley, who runs the Lamia Afghan Foundation and has been working with the household, each informed CNN that Ahmad Wali and Masi have stuffed out types and had interviews and medical exams.
“They’ve simply been left alone and by no means given a lot info,” Bradley stated.
“The household must be again collectively. None of us would suppose that it is applicable to maintain folks aside for a yr, from dad and mom after they’re younger kids,” Bradley stated.