When Tahmina Akakhil left Pakistan last year to settle in Canada after fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, she was devastated to leave her siblings behind.
On Wednesday, she finally got to see them again when her sister, Khadijah Akakhail, and brother-in-law, Hamed Tasal, landed at Victoria International Airport.
“I am so excited I couldn’t sleep last night, because this is the day we were waiting for since one year and they were waiting in Pakistan for almost more than two years now, and it was such a depressing time for them,” she said, while awaiting their arrival.
“Seeing them coming here, being safe and happy, this is the thing I was dreaming of. It was like something impossible for me.”
Akakhil waited at arrivals with her brother, Rafiullah Akakhel, who arrived in Victoria a month ago. The two stood with craned necks outside the arrival doors. At the first sight of her sister and brother-in-law, Akakhil stood on her toes for a better look and turned to the refugee sponsorship group awaiting their arrival.
“They are there!” she said.
Akakhail and Tasal walked toward their family members and threw their arms around them.
“We are all so excited and we are all so happy to see them here,” Akakhel said after the long-awaited reunion.
The four fled their home in Afghanistan with their parents and other siblings the day the Taliban took over on Aug. 15, 2021.
In a letter summarizing her experience since the takeover, Akakhil recalled how a normal working day quickly turned into the end of the life she had known.
Fearing the start of a civil war, Akakhil went home in the middle of a work day to find her family ready to leave their home. Shortly after they left, they heard from relatives that Taliban rangers had visited the home and were asking about them.
“I couldn’t control my tears and sobbed for five days and nights straight,” she wrote.
The four were offered support to flee to Pakistan and eventually travel to the U.S. because they were targeted by the Taliban for their human rights work. That meant leaving the rest of their family behind in Afghanistan. The family includes 12 siblings. One sister is in London, but the rest have returned to their home, where the other sisters have been forced to leave university and jobs in non-governmental organizations.
“It was the most horrible feeling a human can have to leave your family and know that something could happen to them,” she said.
After eight months, the non-governmental organization supporting them financially told them they could no longer help them travel to the U.S. They were trapped in Pakistan without legal status and without money. Eventually, Akakhil was offered sponsorship by a group in Victoria to settle in Canada, but it meant again leaving her family behind in a desperate situation.
Patricia Houston, who spearheaded efforts to sponsor Akakhil, promised that she would do everything she could to bring her family to Victoria, as well. She kept her promise.
“It’s not very often we get a chance to save someone’s life, and this is one of those opportunities,” Houston said.
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