How a 13-year-old boy travelled 3,500 miles on his own to find sanctuary with a new family in the UK
Malook was forced to escape his home country of Afghanistan after a militant group threatened to kidnap him
ACTION figures are scattered around the front room and the sound of video games ping from an iPad.
It’s not hard to guess that this normal end-of-terrace house in Yorkshire is home to boys.
What you wouldn’t know is one of the two children, Malook*, 13, fled to Britain last June from Afghanistan after a militant group threatened to kidnap him.
For the past eight months, he has been fostered by Karen.
As a single mum to her seven-year-old son Blake, she has helped Malook overcome the trauma of leaving his family – undertaking a terrifying journey to the UK – to settle into his new life.
His gratitude is clear from a Valentine’s card to Karen that still sits proudly on the table.
“Mum, I promise to live a life that will do justice to all the sacrifices you have made for me. Thank you,” the teenager had written inside.
“I feel strongly that every child deserves a safe and loving home, so fostering made sense,” says Karen, who became a carer four years ago and has taken in 12 children during that time.
It wasn’t long after images surfaced of three-year-old Alan Kurdi – whose tiny, lifeless body was washed up on a beach near Bodrum, Turkey, after the migrant boat he was travelling in capsized in the Mediterranean Sea – that Karen welcomed Malook into her home.
“That picture horrified me,” Karen reveals.
“Calderdale Council phoned me in August last year and said they needed to place a young male refugee,” she says.
“I couldn’t say no. He’d come from a war zone, so obviously I was concerned: Would he be violent? Angry? Would he bond with my son? But as soon as I met him, I knew everything would be fine.”
Malook is a slight boy with dark hair and a warm smile.
But although he seems totally comfortable today as he plays with Blake, his journey from Afghanistan to the UK was fraught with terror.
“Since 2001, a militant group has been waging war in Afghanistan,” he explains via a translator.
“A few years ago, my dad, who was a farmer, was kidnapped by a militant group and imprisoned. I still don’t know where he is. They warned that I’d be next, as they needed more boys for suicide bombings.”
Terrified, Malook’s mum sold the family’s land and paid smugglers £10,000 to help him escape to the UK.
“Aged 12, I left my village with the smugglers in a car at 3am so no one would see me. I knew no one travelling with me,” he says.
“My family and I were in tears and I didn’t know if I’d see them again. Over the next six months, I travelled through Europe – Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria to Calais. It was a dangerous journey – sometimes we’d stop for months at a time, then we’d be put on a lorry to the next stop.”
Malook stayed in the Calais Jungle refugee camp for 11 nights before clinging to the underside of a train bound for the UK with another refugee last summer.
“It was horrible. I gripped a bar underneath the train and clung on. My arms got tired, but if I let go, I’d die,” he says.
“On the journey, Malook was shot at, running until he couldn’t breathe any more,” Karen explains.
“When he got under the train at Calais, he was frightened he’d die and his mum wouldn’t know where his body was. He’s not tough, so to imagine not knowing when, or if, he’d ever see his family again, is awful. That’s how desperate he was to escape. He grew up hearing bombs going off every day, watched his dad get kidnapped and knew he’d be next.”
On arrival in Kent in June 2015, Malook and the other refugee were arrested and taken to a police station, then handed into foster care.
In early September, two weeks after the council’s call, Malook visited Karen and Blake at home for three hours.
“I made tea as we chatted,” says Karen.
“Meeting Malook immediately quelled any doubts. His English was poor so he barely spoke, but he was smiley. I sensed he was a lovely, honest boy. I felt attached immediately.”
Shortly afterwards, Malook moved in, and Karen is now paid a wage for fostering, as well as expenses to cover his clothes and food.
She also works one day a week in an interior design shop.
“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t cultural differences,” Karen says.
“For the first few days it took a while for me to understand how he was feeling, because he just smiled all the time. There was a language barrier, too. I’d unpack the entire fridge and ask him to point at what he wanted to eat: pizza, soup, fish fingers. He has a halal diet, so I had to adapt my cooking, though all he ever wants is a lamb kebab.
“Malook said he was cold, so I bought him an electric blanket and he sleeps with two duvets. He hates the weather – we joke he should have stopped in Greece!
“Some of the funniest times in those early days were when he got words mixed up. He’d say ‘I’m so angry’ when he meant ‘I’m so hungry’, and would say ‘goodnight’ when leaving for school in the morning!”
Malook started school a week before moving in with the family and sits in a room with other children who don’t speak English.
“He seems to be the teachers’ favourite,” says Karen.
“He sent one a Christmas card which read: ‘I love you, Miss!’”
A few weeks after moving in, Malook asked if he could call Karen “Mum”.
“Usually foster children don’t call their foster mother Mum, but I love it,” she says.
It’s clear Karen, Blake and Malook – who now dreams of being a footballer – are a close unit.
“Blake took to Malook straight away and Malook is so warm and patient with him. They don’t argue, either. At Christmas, Blake wolfed down his chocolate, whereas Malook split his in half to share,” Karen reveals.
However, there have been serious issues to overcome.
“At first, Malook felt insecure, and I had to reassure him that he could stay with us,” says Karen.
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“He still has nightmares about everything he has been through, so when his English is better, the council will provide counselling. Despite everything, Malook says the horror of the journey will have been worth it if he can stay. The idea of going back to Afghanistan is what scares him the most.”
Karen gets frustrated by some people’s attitudes: “One of the grandmothers at the school gates loves Donald Trump and posts about Britain First on Facebook,” Karen says.
“It makes me so angry.”
As a mother herself, she often thinks of Malook’s mum.
“I feel so sad for her. She did what she thought was best, but it must be so painful.”
Thankfully, Malook has a weekly phone call with his mum and siblings.
“It’s amazing he can still speak to them, and they know he’s well, although sadly there’s no chance he’ll see them any time soon. If he were forced to return home, he would probably be dead within a few months. Losing Malook would be like losing Blake – I love them equally,” says Karen.
“It’s likely Malook will be given the right to remain in the UK until he’s 18, so four more years, then he’ll have to apply for permanent asylum. He’ll live with us until then, but we’ve no idea what will happen after that.
“I’d adopt him if I could, but I’m not sure it’s possible. Besides, he has a family who love him in Afghanistan. But if it were up to me, I would provide a home for Malook for life, whether I’m fostering him or not.”
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*Name has been changed.