- Title: The moving moment an Afghan family reunites after 12 years apart
- Date: 27th August 2021
- Summary: PANTIN, FRANCE (AUGUST 27, 2021) (REUTERS) MOTHER OF AFGHAN ACTRESS SHAKIBA DAWOD, QADIRA, HUGGING HER DAUGHTER SHAKIBA CRYING QADIRA CRYING VARIOUS OF SHAKIBA CRYING DAWOD EMBRACING HER SISTER NEDA QADIRA AND HER TWO DAUGHTERS HUGGING (SOUNDBITE) (French) AFGHAN ACTRESS, SHAKIBA DAWOD SAYING: "As soon as I saw my mother running to me, all this fear fell away. I took her in my arms, and I can feel her warmth. I rediscovered the smell of my mother, and it's something that I had forgotten. My mother's tears reminded me of the tears she shed when I left Afghanistan. It was really moving, a lot of emotions today." DAWOD HOLDING HER YOUNG BROTHER MORTEZA, DAWOD HOLDING HER BROTHER MADHI (SOUNDBITE) (English) BROTHER OF SHAKIBA DAWOD, AFGHAN CITIZEN MADHI SAYING: "It was difficult but I tried for 10 days, going to the airport and French embassy, so they didn't respond well, so I've tried by myself and managed from here, by my sister, she helped me to reach the French troops, in the airport. So luckily, we can get into the airport, that's it." VARIOUS OF DAWOD AND HER MOTHER QADIRA EMBRACING AND CRYING (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFGHAN CITIZEN MADHI SAYING: "Ten days, it was very difficult, sometimes we spentthe whole night beside the gate and the U.S. army. There is one kind of troop, they call it zero one, they are very rude, and they mostly hit the people, with guns, bullets firing. All these things happen, so I don't know how it is here. It's like a dream, something like that." DAWOD AND SHAKIBA CRYING (SOUNDBITE) (French) AFGHAN ACTRESS, SHAKIBA DAWOD SAYING: "I tried to help, to support financially my family from afar, and we can say that I contributed to the reconstruction of Afghanistan remotely. And today with the Taliban, it's like all my efforts to help my family to rebuild Afghanistan dissolved. I feel like the Taliban, even from a distance, is able to affect me, on my life. And it's surely the case of many Afghans, who live in France or abroad, who support their family." DAWOD AND SHAKIBA EMBRACING DAWOD"S BROTHERS AND SISTER WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (French) AFGHAN ACTRESS, SHAKIBA DAWOD SAYING: "I am very happy, I think that they will be able to rebuild their lives, to have a future. Whereas in Afghanistan, everything has fallen away, their hopes and their dreams crumbled, and I hope that I will be able to help them, to be able to dream and re-build their lives." FAMILY WALKING AWAY
- Embargoed: 10th September 2021 15:01
- Keywords: Afghanistan Kabul Mother and daughter Taliban family reunion
- Location: PANTIN, FRANCE
- City: PANTIN, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001ES23OEF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: When Shakiba Dawod was reunited with her mother on Friday (August 27), all the stress and terror of trying to get her family out of Afghanistan evaporated, and she broke down and wept.
Standing outside a reception center near Paris, Dawod, who has lived in France for 12 years, hugged her 56-year-old mother Qadira, who arrived with another daughter and three sons on a rescue flight out of Kabul. The two women sobbed and caressed each other's faces and hair.
A shopping bag with provisions that Dawod had brought for her family lay forgotten on the pavement nearby.
"There's lots of emotion today," Dawod, 36, told Reuters a few minutes after the encounter. "The moment I saw my mother running towards me, all those fears fell away."
Dawod said her family felt they had to flee Afghanistan because of pressure from the new Taliban rulers. One brother, she said, had served in the Afghan army and was killed by the Taliban in 2019.
The family said they spent days and nights trying unsuccessfully to get beyond the crowds of people and military checkpoints blocking access to the airport.
Finally, they made it after Dawod - back in France - helped them contact the French contingent at the airport. They were flown out of Kabul on board a French aircraft. When they arrived on Tuesday, they were sent to a reception center on the outskirts of Paris for quarantine as a COVID-19 precaution.
"I don't know how we reached here. It's like a dream," said one of the brothers, 34-year-old Mahdi.
Dawod brought them bags of supplies on Thursday, but was turned away by police guarding the entrance. They were finally allowed to step outside the reception center briefly on Friday, when the restrictions were eased.
"In Afghanistan, everything came crumbling down, their hopes and their dreams crumbled," said Dawod after being reunited with her family. "I hope I'll be able to help them to dream again and to rebuild their lives."
(Production: Noemie Olive) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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