Mashwanis finding peace, community in new home after leaving everything behind
Photos by Jamie Plain
Jamil Mashwani, his wife Nasrin, and their seven children have called Owensboro home since 2021. These days, the Mashwanis relish their calm and peaceful life. In many ways, their life is akin to that of most Owensboroans. Jamil works for Envision Contractors, their children attend school, and they recently purchased a home.
The events that transpired to bring Jamil and his family to Owensboro, however, were fraught with danger and peril, but defined by courage, perseverance, friendship, and hope.
Jamil, now 40, was born in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Kunar is situated in Eastern Afghanistan along the country’s border with Pakistan. A 5-hour drive from Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul, it is a remote area that is sparsely populated.
“I am the eldest of my parent’s six children, and shortly after I was born my parents moved us to Pakistan,” Mashwani said. “We moved to Peshawar, just across the border in Pakistan. My family stayed in Peshawar for several years, and my siblings were born there. When I turned 16, my parents were ready to move back to Kunar, but my brothers and I stayed in Peshawar to finish school.”
Jamil and his brothers stayed in Peshawar at the boarding school where they lived and studied for the next few years. As part of his education in Peshawar, he became fluent in English, a skill that would prove invaluable for him in the future. Jamil graduated in 2001 and initially intended to remain in Pakistan as he began adult life. Peshawar is a city of nearly 5 million, and is in a region that is ethnically and culturally similar to Eastern Afghanistan.
“I had uncles living in Peshawar, and it was really the only place I had lived,” he said. “There was more opportunity for work in Peshawar, so I decided I would stay.”
Mashwani began looking for employment and a place to settle in Pakistan. Jamil’s time in Peshawar after the completion of his studies proved to be short-lived, however. Following the deadly terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the eyes of the world fell on Afghanistan and its Taliban government. Then-U.S. President George W. Bush gave the Taliban an ultimatum: expel al-Qaeda and extradite its leader, Osama Bin Laden, to the United States, or face military intervention. The Taliban refused, and many citizens of Afghanistan feared what was to come.
“My parents and my sisters were back in Kunar, and I was worried for them,” Mashwani recalled. “Especially being right on the border of Pakistan, where so many members of the Taliban would flee when the Americans arrived, I was worried for my family. I decided I needed to return to Afghanistan to make sure they were ok.”
In the fall of 2001, at just 17 years old, Jamil headed back to Eastern Afghanistan amid the prospect of a U.S. invasion to make sure his family was safe.
Operation Enduring Freedom, a global coalition led by the United States military, swept through Afghanistan, secured Kabul, and took complete control of the country in short order. The Taliban were completely toppled and driven from the country by December of 2001. As the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan established military bases and prepared for an occupation and the installation of a transitional government, Jamil was embarking on adult life in Kunar.
“I was working as a teacher in our village in Kunar, just trying to figure out what I wanted to do,” he said.
In 2002, Mashwani married his wife, Nasrin.
“This was a good time in Afghanistan, a peaceful time,” Jamil recalled fondly. “The Taliban and al-Qaeda were gone. The Americans treated us well. Life was good. There was work, there was peace, there was stability. The roads were repaired, so you could travel safely and free from fear. I was with my wife, my parents, and my siblings. It was truly a wonderful time.”
One of the main challenges the U.S. military faced as it continued its occupation of Afghanistan was the language barrier. Though Pashto and Dari are the two official languages, the country is linguistically diverse. The military quickly realized that it would be necessary to have interpreters in each region, and sometimes each village, in order to be able to communicate with villagers. In 2003, Jamil, just shy of 20 years old, began working as a translator for the United States military.
“This was a great job, and I did it for many years,” he said. “The Americans treated me well, and it gave me the opportunity not just to work but to feel like I was making a difference. When villagers or village elders needed to communicate with the Americans, I was able to make sure the communication was clear and effective. Over the course of the years, and as we had children, I was able to work to provide for my family. The military guys I worked with all treated me very well.”
In 2010, as fighting increased in eastern Afghanistan, Jamil felt it was no longer safe for his family in Kunar.
“I worried that if the Taliban were to regain control in Kunar, I might not be safe because I had worked for the Americans as a translator,” he said. “So, I decided to take my family to Jalalabad (a city about halfway between Kunar and Kabul). We felt safe in Jalalabad, and I continued working for the Americans as a translator for 10 more years.”
In 2021, though, as U.S. troops continued to withdraw and the Taliban were drawing nearer each day, Jamil ultimately made the fateful decision to seek refugee status outside of Afghanistan. He knew it wouldn’t be easy.
Jamil and his wife and children went to Kabul in late August.
“There were literally thousands of people who were standing outside of the airport each day hoping to be able to get on a plane to leave the country. There were huge crowds of people waiting outside the airport, even as the Taliban were coming into the city,” he said. “Thankfully I had a friend in Kabul, and we were able to stay with him and go to the airport each day. By the time we were finally able to get into the airport, it was a terrifying scene. The Taliban were on the outside of the fence and there were thousands of people who had helped the Americans and members of the former government trying to get on planes.”
After many hours of waiting, they were able to board a plane. Jamil recalled the bittersweet feeling that washed over him as their plane lifted into the sky and he watched Kabul disappear beneath the clouds.
“My whole life, my parents, my siblings, my extended family, I was leaving them behind. I didn’t know what to expect for them, but at the same time, my children, my wife, and I were finally safe, and I ultimately felt a deep sense of relief,” he said.
Despite Jamil’s relief at being out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, his family’s journey to their new home was far from over. The plane they boarded in Kabul took the Mashwanis to a U.S. military base in Qatar, where they spent one night. They then boarded a plane that took them to another base in Germany. After nine days there, they were finally on a plane bound for the U.S., landing at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., along with thousands of Afghan refugees.
“It was chaos at Dulles,” Jamil said. “No one knew where to go, and we stood in lines that ended up not being the correct line. Finally, after what seemed like hours, we were directed to another plane, this one bound for Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.”
Upon arrival at Fort McCoy, the Mashwanis were given all the essentials of life and adequate lodging, and they were told to prepare for a stay of up to 20 days while the State Department worked to find locations for permanent settlement. After several weeks at Fort McCoy, the Mashwanis finally boarded the plane that brought them to their new hometown.
“When they first told us we would be going to a place called Owensboro, Kentucky, I did not know what to expect,” Jamil said. “I didn’t know how big it would be, what the people would be like, anything. But the people at the various government agencies we worked with assured us it was a great place to live, so that put our mind at ease.”
The Mashwanis arrived in Owensboro along with many other Afghan refugee families. The International Center of Kentucky’s Owensboro Office was tasked with finding housing for the families and caring for them while they settled into life in Owensboro.
During the process of finding permanent housing, officials and volunteers with International Center homed in on a centralized location for temporary lodging: Comfort Suites Hotel on Salem Drive. It was during their time living at The Comfort Suites that the Mashwanis came to know an individual whose generosity and kindness helped Jamil feel that his family would be welcomed in Kentucky.
“When we got to Owensboro in November of 2021, one of the first Americans we met was Diane Ford,” Jamil said. “She was so kind to my family. She made sure we had everything we needed, she would teach my children English words, make sure we had doctor’s appointments. Anything we needed, Diane was there for us.”
Ford, the director of the International Center in Owensboro since 2022, had recently begun volunteering with the organization when the Mashwanis arrived.
“In 2021 when we had all of the Afghan refugees living at the Comfort Suites and I had just come on board, it was definitely a challenge,” Ford said. “I essentially set up headquarters in a room that the hotel agreed to give us, and I began stocking it with all of the supplies that I knew these people would need for daily life. As hectic as it was, when I reflect back on that time it was a blessing, because it allowed the refugees to develop a sense of community with one another, and it allowed the volunteers who were coming into the hotel to help each and every day to get to know these people. It was a wonderful way for the Afghan refugees to get acclimated to Owensboro, and for the people of Owensboro to begin to welcome and get to know them.”
Ford said of Jamil: “Right from the first time I met him, he has always been one of the kindest, most compassionate people I have ever met. He never asked me or the International Center for anything. He makes an incredible impression on everyone he meets. The people he works with at Envision love him. He has tremendous strength of character, perseverance, and work ethic. Jamil and people like him are credits to our community and they deeply enrich our cultural landscape.”
Jamil and Nasrin’s eldest child graduated from Daviess County High School in 2024 and is now pursuing electrical certification at Owensboro Community & Technical College.
When asked to reflect on his time in Owensboro, Jamil has only wonderful things to say.
“Of course the process of leaving our homeland and coming to a new country thousands of miles away was very scary, but we feel like we couldn’t have found a better place to call home,” he said. “Everyone we have met has been so welcoming and kind. Our children have attended school in DCPS and OPS, and we have had great experiences with both. We are blessed. This community has welcomed us and our children. We plan to make this our home and feel lucky to get to do so.” OL
