Donate NowDon and I left New York today on the first leg of our long journey to Afghanistan. We flew from our homebase in New York to Phoenix to meet up with Dost Mohammad and his younger brother, Farshad, as they prepared for their trip to Afghanistan.
Farshad, now 19, at South Mountain Park in Phoenix, the day before leaving for Afghanistan. He was 12 years old the last time he was living in Afghanistan.
Though Dost and I speak fairly often, it had been two years since I had seen him and his family. When I first met Dost's family members, they were fresh off of two years living as refugees in Pakistan, and from the experience of living in Taliban-era Afghanistan before that. They had been plunked in the middle of Phoenix by the U.S. refugee resettlement program and were trying to restart their lives. While Dost spoke English well, his younger brother Farshad, then 14, and his mother Fakhria didn't speak any. I remember Farshad as a quiet, sweet boy with a mop of curly black hair. He would stay in the background whenever I was over their home working with Fakhria or speaking with Dost. But when Don and I flew into Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Farshad, now 19, was waiting for us in the terminal and I could hardly recognize him. He had definitely come into his own in Arizona. The mop of curls was gone and the hand-me-down clothing given to him from charity groups upon their arrival in the U.S. were replaced by baggy jeans, slick sunglasses and an oversized t-shirt. He drove us back to the family home in his newly purchased car, blasting hip hop music out of his enormous sound system, which shook the car as it drove. "Sit back," he told us, "and you'll get a massage."
Once we arrived at their home in Glendale, just outside of Phoenix, I realized that there were a few other changes, albeit more subtle. Dost, who is partially paralyzed from polio, now has greater mobility as a result of physical therapy and an electronic wheelchair. He was in good spirits when we reunited with him, eager to get back to Afghanistan and see his bride-to-be. His fiancee, Fahima, was a neighbor in his home city of Mazar-i-Sharif. She took care of him in the period after he became ill with polio. Through the years following his departure their relationship evolved over the phone. He ultimately asked her to marry him, and when she said yes, he set about making plans to return for their wedding.
While the wedding was foremost on his mind, Dost had a host of other goals for his return to Afghanistan. He wanted to see family members who had stayed in the country throughout the Taliban period and the upheaval that followed their downfall. He wanted to witness first-hand the changes happening in his country from the Western presence and to spread the word about the non-profit organization he started, which advocates for the rights of Afghanistan's disabled.
Fakhria, the mother of Dost and Farshad, spends some time with Farshad before he and Dost leave for Afghanistan.
Don filming Dost for our documentary project. Here Dost works on his computer from his bed.