WEBVTT FILE
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[line ringing]

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Hello?

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I am on my way to school.

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I am cold.

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Are you enjoying yourself there?

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[vehicle engine whirring]

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I am in the car. Don't you hear the sound of the car?

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My nose is cold. Do you remember when my nose was cold?

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-It's Mina's first day of school in Virginia,

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but she is thinking of her old life in Afghanistan.

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When it would snow when I was walking back home from school,

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my nose was always cold.

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We're here at the school. Let me show you the school.

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-8-year-old Mina and 13-year-old Faisal

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arrived several months ago from Kabul.

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-Of course, the first week of the school was hard for them

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because of the language and the new place, new people.

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They are trying to adjust,

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and they're learning so fast English, especial Mina.

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She's very engaged in the class.

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Yes, Mina?

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Chair

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A chair, yea. Thinking about a chair.

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-Yes, Sophia?

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-For Faisal, it's always hard

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because he is in seventh grade.

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-They're living with their Aunt Ferishta in Alexandria,

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but their mother and father are not here with them.

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-On the 26th of August, the explosion

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that happened in Kabul Airport destroyed our family.

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-After Kabul fell to the Taliban,

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Mina, Faisal, and their older brother Masi,

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went with their parents to Hamid Karzai International Airport

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hoping to find seats on an evacuation flight.

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At one of the gates, a suicide bomber was waiting.

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-Eventually my oldest nephew, Masi,

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who is 15 years old, he called me,

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and he said that there was an explosion at Kabul Airport,

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and he couldn't find his family.

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And the phone went dead.

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-In the chaos, the youngest children

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were separated from the rest of the family.

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But they weren't alone.

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The family's neighbor, Emran,

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had gone to the airport with them

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to help them carry their belongings.

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When we were at the entrance, Masi's mom,

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who I called Mom, too,

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crossed the entrance with Mina and Faisal.

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Suddenly we heard a blast.

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As I looked around me, I saw dead bodies

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and wounded people around me.

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-Mina and Faisal's mother, Zakya, was killed in the blast.

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Their father, Wali, was wounded.

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Emran knew he had to act quickly.

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I saw Faisal on some stones unconscious,

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I told an American soldier he was injured.

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The soldier took Faisal in his hands

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and took us inside the entrance at a safe area.

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Later I heard sounds of Mina there inside the clinic,

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as I went inside, I saw Mina there, too.

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-Not wanting them to be alone,

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Emran told the soldiers he was their older brother.

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Soon after, they were sent to Germany and then to the U.S.,

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where the children continued receiving treatment

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for their injuries at Walter Reed.

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Here, Ferishta was finally able to see them.

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-I was so excited and happy,

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and also I was so sad

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because the first question they asked me,

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it was about their mothers.

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They were asking, "Aunt, why our mother is not talking to us?

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Where our mother is?"

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So that was so hard to --

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I couldn't tell anything to them.

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-With their father and older brother in hiding,

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afraid the Taliban will come for them,

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it was up to Ferishta to break the news

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that their mother was gone.

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-Our decision was that their dad will come

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and then we will tell them.

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But as this takes so longer,

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and then I convinced their dad that we can't keep anymore this.

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We have to tell.

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And also, I talked with so many professional counselors,

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as well, and they also advised us that we should talk to them.

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It was so hard for me to keep this from them.

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But now I'm happy that they knew about this.

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-Oh, I really used computer.

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-Mina and Faisal don't know

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when they'll see their father or brother again.

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For example, I learned the password of the computer.

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-For now, they can only talk to them over the phone.

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-Hi.

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Mwah.

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My kids are there, the two of us are here.

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We lost our house, our place and everything.

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[There] isn't a job or work to do.

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I am just sitting here at home from morning until evening.

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-Eight.

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-8. And this.

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-Okay.

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One, two, three, four, five, six.

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-Six.

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-As she waits for her brother,

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Ferishta tries to give the children everything they need.

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But there's a hole she cannot fill.

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-Mm. -Thank you.

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-During the daytime, she always show me her mom's pictures,

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like, old pictures.

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At nighttime, these days,

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she starts crying till she will go to sleep.

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Of course, she's missing too much.

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-[speaking native language]