IN THE UNITED STATES, A SECOND CHANCE FOR AFGHAN REFUGEES

TAKOMA PARK, MD-- ​Two brothers, seven-year-old Afsar and ten-year-old Meer, sit in the
finished basement of a three-story Takoma Park craftsman, tucked away from a tranquil
neighborhood street and shaded with oak trees.

Meer is folding paper airplanes in his lap and Afsar gives one a test flight. It glides across a
Amana washing machine.

“Missing family that are all back in Afghanistan in the hardest part about living in America,” he
says. “I talk to my grandmother about once every two weeks. My mom she talks to her every
single day.”

The boys, both born in Afghanistan, have been living in the United States for eight months now.

In Kabdul, their father Rashid was an architect for the United States’ Army. His work jeopardized
his family’s safety because the Taliban hates anything associated with America, and they
threatened to kill Rashid and his family.

So in 2017, he sold their four story home and two cars and left his only home to become
American refugees, the only option that ensured his family’s survival.

When Asfar and Meer first set foot in America, after thirteen long hours by plane and over
10,000 kilometers of anxiousness and excitement, they knew they were arriving to a land of
safety.

But for the seven-year-old and a ten-year-old, the most important part of life in this new country
was a mystery.

What was school going to be like?

“In the schools here they don’t hit you and it’s more fun,” Meer discovered. “Here the teachers
are nice. In Afghanistan, the teachers would hit you with a ruler.”

Meer and Asfar are enrolled at their local, public elementary school in Riverdale, Maryland

In Afghanistan, the boys describe an education of eight extremely rigorous subjects taught in a
single day. Teachers would hit you if you did not behave and recess didn’t exist.

For Meer and Asfar, friendship was hard to come by since the other students were hostile and
there were no friendship between peers.
“I had no friends in Afghanistan,” Meer says, toying with the edge of the paper he was slowly
folding into a plane. “The kids were mean.”

Yet coming to an American school where they were strangers-- knowing no one and not
speaking the same language-- was not as much a challenge as one might expect.

While the brothers couldn’t rely on each other, each sent to their respective and separate grade
level classrooms, Afsar and Meer quickly assimilated to the American public school system.

They became fluent in English and made friends.

“At school I have one best friend,” Afsar says with a smile. “They are all my friends but I have
one best friend.”

Only eight months after arriving in Maryland, their English is impeccable. Their grades are high--
the boys report that their schooling in Afghanistan already covered most if not all of the subjects
being addressed in their third and fifth grade classrooms, so American school is easy and
unchallenging for them.

“My favorite subject is math,” Meer proudly states. “I’m so good at math.”

Meer is also a safety patrol at his school-- a special privilege only given to the top students in
the fifth grade. He gets to wear a green vest and makes sure all the other students are adhering
the rules.

Afsar shoots his brother an envious glance when Asfar reports this fact, and is quick to add, “My
teacher said when I go to the fifth grade, I’ll be a patrol, too. Because I do good things.”

The American school system is not the only thing that has changed Afsar and Meer’s life. They
are also able to have many childhood experiences that they could never have in Afghanistan.

Being able to play outside and go to parks doesn’t seem like a privilege to even the poorest
child in America, but to many Afghan school children, it is an unattainable dream.

According to Numbeo, a database of crime rates for cities and countries worldwide,
Afghanistan's rate of violent crimes (such as assault and armed robbery) is a staggering 72.9
percent, while in Silver Spring, Maryland (a neighborhooding city to where Meer and Asfar
reside) the rate is less than half of that

“There are lots of beautiful outside parks in America and Afghanistan,” says Meer, “but you can’t
go to them in Afghanistan. It’s too dangerous.”

Children stay within the tight walls of either their school or house.
If the weather was nice when Afsar and Meer got home from school and their parents gave
them permission, they could go outside in the front yard. They would rock on the swings, but a
ten foot brick wall that wrapped around the entire house enclosed them from the outside world
and protected them from bullets and intruders.

“In Afghanistan,” says Meer, “I can’t go outside because of bad guys. Kidnappers kidnap too
many kids. People steal.”

In their new home, Afsar and Meer can freely go outside to parks to play with their friends and
take in the sunshine and fresh air without worrying about being mugged, shot or kidnapped.

America is a land of dreams for the brothers. Opportunities and experiences they never would
have in their home country abound.

“The best thing about America is I can go outside and I get to have friends,” Meer says with a
grin. “In Afghanistan I had no friends but here I have thousands. Everyone here so friendly.”

The two brothers are happy in Maryland but still miss some things about their country that they
will never be able to return to without risking their life.

They miss their family whom the might never see again and the delicious Afghan food.

Mostly, they miss their grandmother, but they can never go back to Afghanistan to visit her and
she cannot come to the United States without a passport, which she doesn’t have.

While their parents worry about paying the high rent, finding a well-paying job and worrying
about the safety of their loved ones still in Afghanistan, Afsar and Meer have other problems.

They are kids so their complaints are seemingly trivial- the food isn’t spicy enough, it’s too cold
sometimes, and one more thing- the bugs.

“There are so many cockroaches here,” says Meer. “None in Afghanistan. So many bugs here!”

He creases the folds of a paper airplane and throws towards the Amana washing machine.
Instead of gliding over, it hits the machine and crashes to the hardwood floor.

“Bugs here are coming to eat you!” Meer yells as he swats a fruit fly jumping onto his face.

Asfar chuckles.

With the bug problems and such America isn’t perfect for Asfar and Meer, but with the safety,
friends, great schools and opportunities to go outside it’s good enough.
NOTE: In order to protect the safety of the refugees and their family that still lives in Afghanistan
the pseudonym names Afsar, Rashid and Meer were given.

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