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Zeebunisa (l-r), her niece Sana, 11, Karenat and her mother, Zeenat, gather at the Ocean Ridge home of Lynsey and Bobby Kane during a day trip from their temporary lodging in Miami. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Visit to Ocean Ridge helps young Afghan family cope with separation from elders

By Joe Capozzi

Even in the comfort and safety of an Ocean Ridge home, memories of her hasty departure from Afghanistan last August are still fresh for Zeebunisa.
“Insha allah,’’ she said, using the Pashto term for “God willing,” as she recounted the day a bomb exploded at the Kabul airport where her parents, siblings and other family members were trying to evacuate as U.S. forces withdrew from her native country.
The explosion killed 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops. Zeebunisa and her family were unharmed, but they were separated in the chaos.
She and some relatives boarded one of the few flights out of Afghanistan, but her parents and one brother didn't make it out.
“It was very scary,’’ she recalled as she relaxed one day in February with her host, Lynsey Kane, who befriended the sisters in November while delivering relief supplies to Afghan refugees.
For years, Zeebunisa's father, brother and uncle worked as translators for the U.S. military, making them Taliban targets.
She is confident they are alive and looks forward to the day when the family is reunited in the United States.
“Insha allah,’’ she said again, a term she used many times during an interview to show her appreciation.
Church World Service, a charitable group working with the U.S. government, was able to put Zeebunisa and other Afghan refugees into temporary housing in Miami. Volunteers like Kane have donated their time to try to make Zeebunisa and her family feel at home, mainly with weekly visits to Miami.

On Super Bowl Sunday afternoon, Kane opened her Inlet Cay home to Zeebunisa, 19, her artist sister Zeenat, 25, and four relatives for a four-hour visit. Another Afghan man living in the area brought traditional Afghan food.
In the kitchen, Zeenat showed off some of her oil paintings. A dining room table was set with traditional Afghan dishes — Kabuli pulao (with chicken instead of lamb), turkey meatballs and chalow (white rice).
“It’s beautiful here, and much warmer than Afghanistan,’’ said Zeebunisa, who speaks functional English, a language she practiced as a university student in Kabul. “My brother rides a bicycle. Sometimes we go to the beach.’’
The bicycle, one of many donated items, is also used to fetch groceries at a local Walmart. And Zeebunisa, who recently acquired a temporary work permit, is working on a résumé.
Aside from donating clothes and food and ferrying the family on errands around Miami, Kane has purchased art supplies for Zeenat, a talented mural and oil painting artist who has had a few commissions since arriving in South Florida.
Zeenat, who has been hearing impaired since childhood, hopes to display her work at art shows later this year.
During the interview, the sisters were polite and outgoing, smiling often and offering almost no hint of the emotional trauma they’ve endured since August. The Coastal Star is not using their surname in an effort to protect their family in Afghanistan.
“We are in a tough situation, coming to a new country and seeing a new culture,’’ Zeebunisa said, pausing to sign to her sister so she could follow the interview.
But, she added, “It was a big problem with the Taliban. If you worked for the (U.S.) government, your life was in danger.’’
Although the family is close, she said her parents insisted the young people get out, even if their elders could not.
“When the Taliban came, the most important thing for us was saving our lives,’’ she said.
“We have our two nieces. They came without their parents. The little one is 2 years old. She’s very young to be without her mom and dad.’’
She said she is confident the challenges she’s enduring now will help her when she continues with her goal of studying to become a lawyer.
Zeebunisa is in some ways much like any other South Florida teenager, with a love for the beach, a passion for movies and ambitious plans for the future.
But over the past six months, she has shouldered burdens usually handled by people much older. She is the main Miami caregiver for two younger siblings and one niece; the sign-language interpreter for Zeenat, and the de facto English-to-Pashto family translator in a place she never expected to be this time a year ago.
“Every young girl has her own ideas and hopes. I plan to finish my studies and be a good lawyer,’’ said Zeebunisa, who said she worked in Afghanistan for the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
She added, “I just want my family to be closer to me. It will take a long time. It should be easy to bring them here because, my parents, their lives are in danger.’’
Lindsay Hays Saraj, a close friend of the Kane family, said the two sisters have done a remarkable job under difficult circumstances.
“If they feel like they are in a safer environment, that they have more opportunities and can flourish to be the persons they want to be, that’s the best part of what this is about, and I am so happy they got out. Here they can contribute to society without restriction in a way they couldn’t there,’’ said Hays Saraj, who runs the public relations agency Hays Grace.
“That said, there is hardship. With such a quick evacuation, they didn’t have time for preparation and now that they’re here they have to absorb so many things in a small amount of time. But they seem very determined. I think they want to do their best and I think they’re going to be OK.’’

Anyone interested in purchasing Zeenat’s art can email Kane at kanelynsey@gmail.com.