Dubai: Two Afghan sisters with thalassaemia got the best Eid gift as the UAE approved their request to fly their parents, who have been stranded abroad for months, home.
“I am very pleased to inform that the UAE government has approved the request to allow [the] girls’ parents to fly back to the UAE,” Masood Azizi, Consul General of Afghanistan in Dubai, told Gulf News.
Two Afghan sisters, nine-year-old Farishta and six-year-old Nadira, were in the care of a relative while their parents were stranded abroad for almost three months.
Gulf News reported early this week that the sisters have health issues and would have to visit the Department of Oncology at Al Ain’s Tawam Hospital where they are undergoing treatment for the inherited blood disorder but there was no one to drive them to the hospital from Sharjah to Al Ain.
Consul General Azizi promises
Consul General Azizi approached the little girls after Gulf News highlighted their plight to provide them all possible help. He visited their house in Sharjah, spent a couple of hours with them to ensure them they would not be alone and would be given all possible help. He also met their grandparents and had iftar with them.
Azizi also ensured the girls that he would personally request the UAE authorities concerned to bring back their parents as soon as possible.
“I am very grateful to the UAE authorities as they have approved my request promptly allowing the girls’ parents to fly back to the UAE,” Azizi told Gulf News on Friday. He also thanked the newspaper for highlighting the issue.
Where are girls' parents stranded
Consul General Azizi said that girls’ father Naimatullah, 33, has been stranded in Australia for the last three months. He left for Australia on an extended business trip in mid-February. “I was hoping to return towards March-end but the coronavirus lockdown put a spanner in my travel plans,” he told Gulf News earlier.
Their mother who went to Afghanistan two months ago due to an emergency back home, also could not return because of suspension of flights and ban on arrival of passengers to the UAE as precautionary measure to prevent coronavirus spread.
The girl’s father was still in Australia when his wife, Husniya, had to dash to her hometown in Afghanistan on March 9 with their four-year-old daughter, Ayesha. “My father-in-law had taken ill suddenly so my wife flew down to Kandahar to see him. She took along Ayesha leaving Farishta and Nadira behind with my cousin Hafiz in Sharjah,” he added.
Consul General Azizi said: “We will reunited the kids with their parents as soon as the flights are available.”
Tender talk
Consul General had a talk with the girls during his meeting. Elder sister Farishta told him that she wanted to be a doctor as her ambition is to help other people. Both of them study at Our Own English School in Sharjah. The younger sister, Nadira, said that she would like to become a scientist, as she wants to explore the skies.
