"LOVE LIKE IT'S OUR HOMELAND"

Afghan refugees begin adjusting to life in Manhattan

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Story by AJ Dome | Photos by Lucas Boland

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Ayaz Khalil said leaving his home country of Afghanistan was “like the end of the world.” Yet, upon arriving in Kansas, he said he felt “at home.”

“(Kansans) gave us love like it’s our homeland,” Khalil said.

Khalil, along with his wife and five children, are one of many families who fled Afghanistan after the nation’s fall to Taliban terrorists last August. They arrived in Manhattan in January and have begun the six-month resettlement process.

When The Mercury visited Khalil last month, he was picking up his children from the school bus stop near their temporary apartment. The Manhattan-Ogden school district prepared for the influx of children after the Manhattan Afghan Resettlement Team (MART) announced the arrival of at least 100 people, many of whom are kids, over the course of a year. Since October, 73 Afghans have relocated to Manhattan, with 40 more expected to arrive before September.

Khalil’s kids range in age from 10 years old to five months; they brought their donated toys into the living room to play with while Khalil told stories about some of the great Afghan cricket players, like Mohammad Nabi.

“Afghan cricket, best in the world,” Khalil said.

Khalil, 40, said his kids love playing cricket, but he doesn’t know anyone locally who plays the game. He said he worries for his family members who remain in Afghanistan and feels sad for the future of his homeland.

“I spent almost 40 years in our country,” Khalil said, “and after 20 years I watched a complete society break.”

In August, U.S. and allied armed forces withdrew from Afghanistan after a two-decade mission to combat terrorism and maintain a functioning democracy. Many Afghan families, including Khalil and his children, spent several nights at the airport in the besieged capital of Kabul as they waited for a flight out to the closest allied military installation. The Khalil family bounced from Kabul to nearby Qatar, then to an air base in Germany before ultimately landing in Manhattan in January.

Some families grew while they waited to evacuate. The first family to settle in the Little Apple consists of a woman and man in their mid-20s and their three young daughters — including a six-month-old baby who was born in the Kabul airport on Aug. 21, less than a week after the Taliban took over the capital city. The family fled the country two days later.

MART formed in September to help Afghans like Khalil make a new life in the Flint Hills. The volunteer organization consists of about 100 people representing numerous community agencies and service groups. Everything an Afghan family might need is thought of, from healthcare and transportation to education and housing.

PREPARING THE WAY

In January, MART volunteers helped Khalil and his family move into temporary housing; at the time of this article’s publishing, the family was moving into a more permanent home.

Volunteer Susan Adamchak said because Afghan people are coming to Manhattan with next to nothing, they need many basic household items. She said MART is taking donations of kitchenware, like rice cookers and dishes, as well as furniture and bed frames.

“We are buying new mattresses for everybody,” Adamchak said. “We’re also collecting large pillows and carpets they can use on the floor.”

It’s Afghan custom to sit on the floor for meals or to entertain guests. Most of the Manhattan apartments Afghan families are occupying come pre-furnished, but Adamchak said donations of home interior items are also encouraged. Refrigerators and pantries are stocked with food, including plenty of ingredients and seasonings used in Afghan cooking. Adamchak said MART has a partnership with Harvester’s to provide some food for Afghan families.

Judy Nicholson, board chairwoman of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Manhattan, brought groceries to fill the Khalil family’s fridge the day they moved in. Some Afghan dietary staples include rice, chicken, and vegetables like okra and eggplant.

Each family has its own food preferences, right down to treats for afternoon tea time. During The Mercury’s visit with Khalil and his children, the family served hot unsweetened green tea and an array of healthy snacks like pistachios and dates. Nicholson said she’s happy to see so much support for Afghan families locally.

“This community has come together around an issue like this better than any place I’ve ever been,” Nicholson said.

LANGUAGE BARRIER

While The Mercury visited with the Khalil family, Ayaz said he would eventually “run out of words” in English during the conversation. Interviews with other local Afghans indicate the biggest hurdle they wish to clear is learning the language.

At Manhattan Area Technical College, 14 Afghan students are enrolled in English classes this semester. Rahmatullah “Rashid” Nazari, 25, said the instructors make him feel comfortable and help him build his confidence. He’s in an English class with his two sisters, 19-year-old Nadera and 20-year-old Sediqa Nazari. They are all cousins to Fatima Jaghoori, a U.S. Army veteran and one of the MART co-leaders alongside former Manhattan city commissioner Aaron Estabrook.

Jaghoori acted as an occasional interpreter when The Mercury sat down with the Nazari siblings on Feb. 16. Nadera Nazari graduated from high school before she moved to the U.S. with her family. In a quiet voice, she said her educational experience in Afghanistan was good, but that it took about 30 minutes to walk to school. Rashid said the commute to class involved a trek over Afghanistan’s rugged mountains, and that the facilities were less than adequate.

“The teachers, very good, they were very nice,” Rashid said, “but they just didn’t have any good facilities or transportation.”

MATC instructor Elsa Valarezo de Ireton focused on grammar when The Mercury visited her classroom. Through teaching the class, she said she’s learning how much adversity resettled Afghans have gone through to get to Manhattan.

“They are hungry to learn,” Valarezo de Ireton said, “which always helps.”

English classes for Afghans at MATC will end with the regular semester during the second week of May, but a summer option will be available for those who are interested, and classes will resume in the fall. MATC dean of academic partnerships and outreach Chris Boxberger said he and MART leaders wanted to make sure the technical college was ready to provide language-learning resources to incoming Afghan students.

“As they transition and become a bigger part of our community, we just want to make sure their English language skills are developing,” Boxberger said.

Another aspect of developing English skills is experiencing new things — like buffalo chicken pizza.

“Pizza is a huge favorite,” Fatima Jaghoori said about her cousins. “Cheese balls, too. Nadera and Sadiqa both love cheese balls. Every time we go to the store it’s like, ‘Can we get the big container?’”

THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE

Nadera Nazari said she wants to become a registered nurse. Advisors at MATC are working to help her achieve that by exploring options in the Job Corps program. Her sister, Sadiqa, also wants to work as a nurse.

Rashid Nazari wants to study business in the U.S. In Afghanistan, he focused on Chinese languages at Kabul University and received a scholarship to study in China for a year. Nasrullah Mirzayee, 30, a family friend of Jaghoori and the Nazari siblings, was a welder by trade in Afghanistan and said he wants to run an import/export business in America. Jaghoori said she and her relatives have tossed around ideas for a food truck that would feature Afghan cuisine, but she said they’re “quite a long way” from acting on their plans.

Operating a food truck would require a driver’s license, which is another aspect of American life Afghans are adjusting to. An understanding of English makes it easier for non-native speakers to test for and receive a license. Khalil told The Mercury that his biggest hang-up with getting his license was his ability to comprehend certain English words; there are no Pashto or Farsi translations of Kansas driver’s education materials. MART volunteers and other local Afghans are serving some transportation needs for families who’ve just settled in town. Others, like Ayaz, use the aTa Bus system to run errands.

Jaghoori said the transition team is preparing a communitywide welcome event for Afghan families sometime this spring. The team originally planned a welcoming celebration last fall with the arrival of the first Afghan family to Manhattan, but the timing of arrivals paired with the holiday season and winter weather meant delayed plans for a community event.

Jaghoori said she and other MART volunteers are aiming for a sunny day in Annenberg Park to hold a Manhattan Afghan celebration. She said the Persian New Year, called Nowruz, coming up March 20 would be the perfect occasion.

“That would be an amazing little New Year’s welcome party,” Jaghoori said, “and it would give us a little bit of time to get everything situated. By then I think we’ll have a few more families.”

On a sunny afternoon during tea time, Khalil said he feels fortunate to have a healthy family, and for his children to have new opportunities.

“They will do well,” Khalil said. “My children will succeed, because we are here.”