A gift for my new Afghan refugee friend!

Hi,

My name is Arad. I am a 9th grader. My mom and I moved to Pittsburgh last summer. Around two months ago, I noticed a boy in the schoolyard. He seemed very nervous and kept looking around. Somehow I felt he was a new student, so I decided to go and say hi to him. His English was not good. I asked him where he was from, and he said Afghanistan. I told him that my family was from Iran and we started to speak Farsi. His name was Tamean. He’s 19 years old and is placed in the 11th grade. I was surprised and excited. He was the first Afghan person I had ever met and spoken to.

Tamean and I became friends immediately. He told me he’s a refugee. He also told me horrible stories about the situation in Afghanistan and what he and his family had to witness and go through. Hearing all that, I thought I was going to lose it. In the first week of our friendship I was very restless and couldn’t eat or sleep properly. Even thinking about those stories made me sick, let alone experiencing them in real life. I still can’t understand how he’s functioning.

Tamean is from Kabul and comes from a large family of five brothers and one sister. His father was a taxi driver. During the war, he stepped on a mine and injured his leg. He can't drive anymore.

During the very chaotic time that some Afghans had the opportunity to get on the American planes and escape the country, Tamean and his two older brothers (one with a wife and three kids) were able to board a plane. The rest of the family was left behind without having the chance to say goodbye. Tamean and his brothers were transported to a refugee camp in New Jersey. After five months, they were moved to Pittsburgh.

Tamean is very sad and anxious for his family. He misses them and feels very guilty for leaving them behind. He’s fearful for his mom and sister. Now that he’s here, he regrets he bugged his sister so much. He cries as soon as he talks about them. My mom invited Tamean to our house to get to know him. It was weird. He couldn’t stop crying. She invited him to lunch for Persian New Year, but he said he was too sad to celebrate.

Tamean is very grateful for being in the U.S., but apprehensive about his family. He hopes to get a job as soon as possible to better support himself, his brothers and his nephews. He also wants to save money to find a way to bring the rest of his family to the U.S. But his dream for himself is to become a doctor and help people in need.

I like Tamean very much. He is my friend and I want to see him happy. I want to play sports and have fun with him but he’s too sad and anxious. I can tell he feels lonely.

I want to help Tamean go to a good college and become a doctor but first, he needs to learn English really well. I asked my mom to make a Go Fund Me so we can make his life a little easier.

Maybe this way he knows there are kind people to support him and he doesn’t feel so lonely. Maybe this way he can feel a bit calmer and can focus on his studies.

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I hope this helps because when people are sad they are not fun and they can’t make friends. I hope Tamean can make friends.

When I grow up I want to become a comedian because I like to make people laugh. I try to make Tamean laugh but none of my jokes are funny to him. I want Tamean to laugh again.

I put a picture of us for you. He’s the one in white.

Thank you for your help!

Arad