‘Your new home’: Family of four fleeing Afghanistan arrives in Kansas City
A woman in a crisp white and purple patterned hijab emerged from behind the glass security doors separating the arrival and baggage claim areas Friday at Kansas City International Airport, pushing a stroller with two tiny shoes poking out from a red blanket.
It was 6 p.m. and the sun that had bathed travelers in a deep orange hue for the last half hour was fading.
The woman and her husband, along with their two children, recently fled Afghanistan, which fell to the Taliban in August.
Originally from Kandahar, a city in the southern part of Afghanistan, the father of the family spent 12 years working on a U.S military base.
He heard through other workers on the base that there was an Afghan man in Kansas who would be able to sponsor him and his family, as they apply for refugee status to come to the U.S.
The Star is not naming the family out of security concerns.
He has a son and grandkids who remain in Afghanistan.
After weeks of traveling — shuffled from Qatar to Germany to New Jersey — the family was fatigued as they finally arrived in Kansas City, their new home.
At least 70 evacuees from Afghanistan have come to Kansas City since the beginning of October. That’s a fraction of the 550 families Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas promised to resettle in an announcement last month, but organizations are expecting a surge of new evacuees in the coming weeks due to a growing number of families fleeing the country.
The family that arrived Friday were met by staff from Della Lamb Community Center, a nonprofit resettling refugees and evacuees in the Kansas City metro area.
Samad Hussaini, 32, is a caseworker and one of a few Pashto translators working in Kansas City. He meets arriving families at the airport.
“There’s this phrase I like to say in Pashto — in English it translates to ‘I hope your tiredness goes away,’” he said.
The next 24 hours will be very difficult for them, said Peter Makori, refugee resettlement program manager for Della Lamb. They will be in shock, hungry and exhausted, he said.
“The most important thing for them to know is that they’re safe here. Nobody is crossing the border into America to hurt you. This can be your new home.”
The organization will help connect the family to resources and jobs so they can be self-sufficient at the end of 90 days, when the cash assistance the center allocates to each family expires, according to Makori.
As night fell, the family packed into Della Lamb’s van, without their luggage which was delayed, and headed to an apartment provided by the organization. As they drove on Interstate 29, it was the start of a new beginning, one filled with hope but also worry.
“I have a son and my son has a kids and wife and all that,” the man said through Hussaini, who translated. “He’s still in Afghanistan. I did my best to come here and soon the Taliban will hurt him. I’d do anything to get my kids out of Afghanistan.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2021 at 5:31 PM.