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With his province hit by ‘mother of all bombs,’ Afghan refugee in Sacramento hopes for peace

Sacramento immigrant Sayednabiullah Sayedzai was a translator for the Navy Medical Corps in Afghanistan. He is waiting to see if the U.S. attack on an Islamic State target will mean relatives can return to villages or face more bloodshed.

Afghan Refugees

No Safe Place: Afghans risked their lives for U.S., now struggle in Sacramento

Sacramento has become a major destination for Afghan refugees who translated for U.S. troops or otherwise served in the war effort. But California hasn’t provided the better life they expected. Marked for death by the Taliban at home, they’ve endured poverty and violence in Sacramento.

Afghan Refugees

Lost in America – Afghan refugees in Sacramento fight PTSD

Afghan refugees, whose struggles were chronicled in the Sacramento Bee special report “No Safe Place,” continue to experience depression, anxiety and other mental health problems that their therapist has labeled post-traumatic stress disorder. They may be suffering from a particular variant of PTSD known as Ulysses syndrome, after the Greek hero who wandered the sea for years before finding his way home.

Afghan Refugees

He escaped Afghan violence, only to be attacked in a Sacramento parking lot

Faisal Razmal routinely navigated potentially deadly situations working as an interpreter for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. But he didn’t suffer physical harm until he moved to an apartment building in Sacramento’s Arden Arcade neighborhood. There, police say, a neighborhood teenager looking to rob him of cash or his cellphone shot him in the eye with a flare gun, severing his optic nerve.

Afghan Refugees

Afghan mother’s life crumbles when her husband is killed in Sacramento

Malalai Rafi had been in Sacramento just a few weeks when a distracted driver plowed into her husband and 8-year-old son as they rode bikes on Edison Avenue. Her husband was killed, and her son gravely injured. Unable to drive or speak English, Rafi was left to manage life with four children, one of whom remained in the hospital for months.

Afghan Refugees

Photos reveal heartbreak and despair of new widow’s American life

Unable to drive or speak English, Malalai Rafi must manage life in a new land with four children after her husband dies in a bike accident shortly after the family’s move to the United States. The accident also gravely injured Rafi’s son, who suffered a brain injury and remained in the hospital for months.

Afghan Refugees

His interpreter saved his life in Afghanistan; he works so none are left behind

Matt Zeller, a former Army intelligence officer, says his former interpreter saved his life during a firefight in Afghanistan. Since returning to the United States, Zeller has devoted his life to helping former interpreters get out safely. His nonprofit, No One Left Behind, helps resettle the new arrivals – filling gaps left by a refugee resettlement system Zeller says is failing.

Afghan Refugees

Substandard housing for Afghan refugees reflects larger problem in Sacramento County

Aging suburban neighborhoods in unincorporated Sacramento County now have the biggest concentration of substandard rental apartments in the region – a reality reflected in a recent Bee series on Afghan refugees.

Afghan Refugees

How you can help Sacramento’s Afghan refugees who served U.S. in war

Hundreds of readers have reached out to try and help Afghan refugees struggling to adjust to life in Sacramento since The Bee published its special report, No Safe Place, on Sunday.

Afghan Refugees

Former Afghan interpreter shifts gears for a new career in America

Yalda Kabiri continued studying in secret when the Taliban closed all schools for girls, and she went on to become one of the few women to serve as interpreters for U.S. forces during the Afghan war. Now she is trying to rebuild her life in the United States. Her tiny day care business is the first step.

Afghan Refugees

From battling insurgents to checking iPhones – Afghan interpreter mourns lost sense of purpose

Abdul Farhad Ghafoori misses the sense of purpose he felt in war. On the wall of his apartment in Arden Arcade, Ghafoori, 25, has hung a photo collage of him serving in the field with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Now, he makes $10 an hour troubleshooting iPhones at the Apple plant in Elk Grove.

Afghan Refugees

Images document a family’s struggle with bedbugs, cockroaches and crime

Abdul Farhad Ghafoori served the U.S. Army as an interpreter and was granted a Special Immigrant Visa to escape the threats of the Taliban. In Sacramento, he was introduced to insect infestation. “We expected the government to provide for us and put us in a good, clean place,” he said.

Afghan Refugees

They worked for U.S. troops, now work on iPhones in Elk Grove

Just before 4 p.m. on any given weekday, dozens of Afghan refugees arrive at the Apple Inc. campus in Elk Grove to work the swing shift. Many of them are interpreters, doctors or engineers who were awarded Special Immigrant Visas for assisting U.S. forces in the war in Afghanistan. Now they earn between $10 and $12 an hour checking the functions on iPhones.

Afghan Refugees

Stripped of their names, refugees head to court

A maddening bit of bureaucracy has erased the names of thousands of Afghan refugees arriving in the United States, making it harder for them to launch their new lives. Special Immigrant Visas granting them entry to this country omitted their last names and used their first names as last names. Their first names were listed simply as FNU, or first name unknown.

Afghan Refugees

‘This can’t be America’ – A doctor in Afghanistan, she’s starting at the bottom

Dr. Najia Mohib was walking her daughter, Hila, 8, home from school in May 2015 when she was struck by a car. The former obstetrician was hit on a stretch of Edison Avenue without sidewalks, not far from where fellow refugee Mustafa Rafi was killed two months later while riding his bike with his son Omar, who suffered severe brain injuries.

Afghan Refugees

Despite hardships, she’s happy to escape war

Basira Haidari has been alarmed by incidents that left Afghan refugees she knows dead or seriously injured. It doesn’t help that small boys swear at her and throw rocks. While she wants to continue her schooling, she can speak basic English so her daughter’s teacher depends on her to translate for the class.

Teen sentenced for blinding Afghan refugee in 2015 flare gun attack

Afghan Refugees

Sacramento teen sentenced for blinding Afghan emigre in 2015 flare gun attack

Renardo Williams, the teenager who shot and blinded a former Afghan military interpreter later featured in The Bee investigative series “No Safe Place,” in 2015, will be held in juvenile custody until he is 25, a Sacramento juvenile court judge ordered Friday.

He was blinded by a flare gun. Here's how he feels about his attacker's guilty plea

Afghan Refugees

Sacramento teen pleads guilty to shooting Afghan war interpreter in face with flare gun

Nearly three years after Faisal Razmal, a refugee who served as an interpreter to U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was shot in the face with a flare gun in front of his Sacramento apartment, a teenager has pleaded guilty to the crime.

Afghan Refugees

Afghan woman battles domestic violence, patriarchal culture

Afghan refugee Basira Haidari defended herself against her husband’s violence in their Arden Arcade home. She then urged other Afghan women to take a stand against domestic violence.

Afghan Refugees

He could have beaten his wife in Afghanistan, but here she fought back. And lost her kids.

Afghan refugee Basira Haidari defended herself against her husband’s violence in their Arden Arcade home. She then urged other Afghan women to take a stand against domestic violence, bringing to light often hidden, but culturally sanctioned domestic abuse among some Afghan refugees.

Afghan Refugees

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