‘Christmas Child’ Coming Today: Miraculous Reunion
“The parents didn’t expect to see their child until possibly many years from now…Arsalan is this year’s Christmas child,” states Irma Erlingsdóttir, professor at the Gender Equality Studies and Training Programme in Iceland.
Arsalan, with his father, Khairullah Yosufi.
Husband and wife Khairullah Yosufi and Zeba Sultani were forced to leave their two-month-old son behind when they fled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in August. The baby had to be left behind after he lost consciousness in the crowd at Kabul Airport.
Arsalan, during the first flight, on which he was accompanied by his grandma and uncle.
Today, little Arsalan, now six months old, will be coming to Iceland, along with his father and other refugees, who will be granted asylum in Iceland.
His father, Khairullah, flew to Tbilisi, Georgia, to be reunited with him. Accompanying the little boy was Latifa Hamidi, a woman who once, just like Zeba, participated in the Gender Equality Studies and Training Programme in Iceland, and who will be granted asylum in Iceland, along with her husband and two children.
Arsalan in Georgia, along with Latifa's children.
Arsalan’s journey began in Kabul, and from there he flew to Mazar, Afghanistan, then to Tbilisi, Georgia, then to Sweden, and from Sweden he will fly to Iceland.
“I’m very happy,” states Zeba. “There has been so much stress lately, and I have hardly been able to sleep or eat for the past week.”
“I was told last week that Arsalan would be coming home, but there was still so much uncertainty,” Zeba adds. She waited with anticipation to hear from her husband once he had been reunited with his son in Georgia.
“I couldn’t sleep at all the night before, and it was such a relief when I finally received the message. I’m so excited to see my baby,” she exclaims.
Latifa Hamidi took care of Arsalan from Afghanistan to Tbilisi, Georgia.
