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That August, when Sepehr, his father Burhan and his mother Narcis arrived in England from Afghanistan after the takeover of the Taliban. They consider themselves lucky.
BBC News follows their journey: from hiding in Kabul, where former British army translator Burhan begged British not to leave them, to have a crush and danger at the airport when he waved their documents, until their safe arrival in England.
Watching our report was Helga McFarlane in Aberdeen, who was so touched by their fate that he offered them flat in the city where they could restart their lives.
This week, almost a year since their arrival in England, we went to Aberdeen to meet them.
I call it a city of opportunity,” Burhan said. Granite City has welcomed them warmly. Burhan has a job in security when Narcis studies English. He hopes to use his skills as a doctor to help his adoptive community.When we first met Sephr, he could barely speak English. “Good” is the answer when I asked him last year how he felt to move to Aberdeen.
I can’t speak English at all, only a little. Now my English is better so I can talk a lot and I forget a little … Persia.
He proudly described what he had taught at school: “We learn about the human brain … about the cerebellum, it controls your body’s control.”
Just like the new Ukrainian refugees fled the war to come to England, the Vesal family has been effectively sponsored. Helga McFarlane has given them accommodation, support, and suggestions. Not all Afghanistan refugees are as fortunate as that, and Burhan knows how much difference he has made in their lives.
I can say that I am the luckiest person among my friends, among the tens of thousands of people who left Afghanistan, who I had finished well with the help of good people who were generous around me.”When England launched a residential scheme for Afghan people last year, he offered security but was not stability. There are almost 10,000 still in the hotel. More than £ 1 million a day spent in the room.
Unlike Ukraine refugees, they do not have official sponsors to help integrate it into the community. And also unlike Ukraine, they cannot bring other family members.
Abdul Wali Shelgari has lived with his six children in a hotel in West Sussex. Children go to school but, every day, return to their temporary accommodation. It’s not that they imagine family life.
I feel hopeless,” said the businessman. “A hotel is not for long -term life. They say that it might be completed in one month or two months. But almost a year.”
The hotel serves Indian family food, he said, more spicy than Afghanistan food and is difficult to eat for children. And he said many people were depressed because this situation had continued for so long.
Many Afghan residents who came here – while grateful for their rescue – felt defeated by the bureaucracy.
Marwa Koofi lives with her siblings and their families in a hotel in Yorkshire after they fled Afghanistan because their mother was a politician targeted by the Taliban. However, they had to leave the house while almost a year.
Marwa said he asked to come to London because he would study at King’s College starting next month, and he asked his family to stay together.
But when he was sent to a hotel in West Sussex with one brother, his other siblings are now in a Manchester hotel and his sister lives in a hotel in Leeds.
It’s very difficult for me to be far from my family. Very annoying for us. To be honest, I can’t stop my tears.”
Home Office says “Individual housing and Afghan family can be a complex process and we support people with various needs. We … have moved – or are in the process of moving – more than 7,000 people to home since June 2021.”
It leaves nearly 10,000 Afghan residents at the hotel. This is a year since they fled from their homeland but they still haven’t found a house.
