VCOM View Vol 11 No 1

Son of Afghan Immigrants Volunteers to Help Refugees by Scott Godwin

Y ousef Nikzai is a fourth-year VCOM-Auburn student, who was recently rotating in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC) in Opelika, Alabama. Nikzai said that he is interested in becoming an anesthesiologist, as the field offers many career options and fellowship opportunities. Nikzai was eager to attend medical school, but had been waitlisted two years. He completed the post-baccalaureate program at VCOM-Virginia, and ended up as a student at VCOM-Auburn. Nikzai said that both of his parents were born and raised in Afghanistan, and left in the 1970s when the Soviet Union invaded.

His mom was 18 when she left, and his dad was 21. They both met at a wedding in Virginia, involving mutual friends. Despite a long-distance situation, they began dating and got married after two years. In addition to regular jobs, they both work as translators and cultural educators for the U.S. military. Nikzai said that he talked with his father when events started unfolding in Afghanistan recently with the frantic U.S. withdrawal. He noted that they had been planning a trip to Afghanistan this winter, something that will not happen now. Nikzai felt compelled to do something to help refugees. Nikzai, along with several friends, started an online organization,

OneAfghanistan.org , in order to streamline information about aid efforts and to offer free mental health services to refugees. In addition to creating this central hub of information, Nikzai saw an opportunity to go home to the Washington D.C. area and to offer medical assistance to refugees that were arriving in the U.S. In addition to his medical skills, Nikzai offered a critically needed resource: he speaks Farsi and Dari fluently. created in the Dulles Expo Center to handle medical needs of refugees that were connecting to other destinations. Nikzai said that Dulles airport was the main point of entry Nikzai said that a temporary volunteer medical center was

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