Shakil Alakozai bikes 30 minutes every day to work as a mechanic in Wichita. He doesn’t own a car of his own yet but he’s saving money for one.
Back at home, Alakozai was an officer in the Afghan military, working closely with U.S. special forces in Jalalabad, where he lived with his wife, Mujahida, and their two young children.
It’s been nine months since the Taliban seized power in the war-torn country amid a hasty withdrawal of American troops. Nine months since Alakozai bid his mother farewell at the Kabul airport.
He gets emotional now, remembering that time.
“When I came to Kabul, I just came alone,” Shakil Alakozai told The Eagle through an interpreter. “My family was in Jalalabad, and after that, I called to my family to please come to Kabul. My relative took all of my family and brought them to the Kabul airport, and my mom came with them together just for goodbye.”
Afghanistan’s capital was the last major city to fall to the Taliban. When the extremist group overthrew Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed government, the Alakozais were no longer safe there.
Shakil, 32, and Mujahida, 29, speak Pashto, one of Afghanistan’s two official languages. Now, they’re learning English alongside their 7-year-old son, Shokaib, and 5-year-old daughter, Halima.
The Alakozais spoke to The Eagle from the living room of their west Wichita apartment with the help of Nilam Malik, 25, a fellow Afghan refugee who relocated to Wichita with her brother, Mohammad Yaser Malik.
In Afghanistan, Nilam taught midwifery at a university in Kabul. Now, she and her brother work at the Pfizer manufacturing plant in McPherson.
The Alakozais fled Kabul and flew to Kuwait. When they arrived in the United States, they spent several months on an East Coast military base before coming to Wichita in the fall. The family had friends in Wichita who encouraged them to start their new life here.
“We just called to them and said, ‘If we come to Wichita, is it a good place for us or no?’ And they said, ‘Yes, Wichita is a good place,’” Shakil said. “And then we came to Wichita and we have a good life.”
The International Rescue Committee has resettled 409 Afghan refugees in Wichita since last October. The organization provides intensive help for refugees’ first 90 days and continued support beyond that.
“We will be at the airport the moment they land and walk off the plane into Wichita for the first time,” executive director Sarah Terlouw said.
“Eight to 10 to 12 is not an unusual size for an Afghan family. They’ll come off the plane, they’ve got maybe two duffle bags of everything they own in the world.”
The IRC furnishes an apartment space and helps with finding employment and getting kids enrolled in school.
Terlouw said the organization is seeking new volunteers to help refugee families get settled in.
“When the families arrive that first night at the airport and we take them to a house, that house has to be ready for them,” she said. “It has to have furniture that’s been set up. It has to have groceries that have been bought and put in the refrigerator.”
Terlouw said she expects the IRC to resettle roughly 385 more refugees this year, including about 50 more people from Afghanistan.
She expects an influx of Ukrainian refugees in the coming months.
“It’s not clear yet exactly when and how many are going to come into Wichita, but we do know that program is going to be a lot of sponsorship,” Terlouw said. “What we really need for the Ukrainians . . . is people who are willing to engage with families and even sort of sponsor a family, take them on as like, you can live with us or we can help you with medical appointments and all these services that you need.”
Because of a paperwork discrepancy, the Alakozai children haven’t been enrolled in school yet. But volunteer Crystal Satrom comes weekly to give them English lessons. Her own young children have become fast friends with Shokaib and Halima.
“She has a good heart to help with us,” Nilam Malik said of Satrom. “Me and my friends, they all can speak a little English now. We are blessed that we have found our teacher.”
Shakil said people in Wichita have been kind and accepting of his family.
“Every country has different cultures, so everyone has special rules, special religions. Everyone has their specialties, so I have respect for all of them . . . even though we have some differences,” he said.
As practicing Muslims, the family has certain dietary restrictions. They’ve found that the Asia Bazaar Grocery & Cafe on east 21st Street carries many of the familiar ingredients they can’t find at Walmart or Dillons.
Without a car, they’re limited on what they can do for fun. The kids like to play at the apartment playground with other children, including several from other Afghan families.
The Alakozais have plenty of goals for the future — some big and some small. Shakil says after they get a car, they’ll start saving up money for a house of their own.
Shokaib tells The Eagle he wants to be a doctor when he grows up. He’d also like to be a police officer and a car mechanic. Halima is shy and would rather watch television than share her plans for the future.
Malik said she’s confident the family will build a happy life in Wichita.
“It all takes a lot of time, but I know that they will get it in the future,” she said.
Volunteer and donation opportunities can be found on the IRC’s website, https://www.rescue.org/how-to-help.
The IRC is looking for housing set-up volunteers and cultural orientation volunteers, who help teach refugees about the basics of life in the U.S.
