The Other Side of the Sky

Ahmedi and her mother traveled to New York with four other Afghan families. The others remained in New York, while Ahmedi and her mother continued to Chicago. Upon arrival in Chicago, the staff from the World Relief charity were late meeting them at the airport because of traffic, so Ahmedi and her mother found their luggage on their own. They did not know what to do at that point, however, and they were exhausted and scared. Soon, the World Relief staff arrived and took them to where they were to stay for a few weeks. Ahmedi’s mother was increasingly fearful that it was all a ruse meant to enslave them to an American family, misinterpreting each step of the way in light of this fear. It continued this way after they settled with their host family. The American couple who were hosting them could not speak Farsi, and Ahmedi and her mother could not speak English, so they mistook every little thing that the American family did to try to make them feel at home as confirmation that they were going to be held hostage. They huddled in their room with the door locked.

Eventually, their host took them to the World Relief office, where an Afghan case worker agreed to bring them over to her house for lunch. The morning after they returned to the Americans’ house, Ahmedi’s mother had a serious asthma attack and was rushed to the hospital. While she was there, she had an allergic reaction to medication and went into a coma for a week before eventually coming back to consciousness. Meanwhile, World Relief had found them an apartment of their own to live in, and after Ahmedi’s mother’s release from the hospital, they went to their new home.