A refugee who fled the Taliban in Afghanistan on a plane with just a backpack has graduated a UK university with a master’s degree.
Naimat Zafary, 37, graduated from Sussex University with a merit in Governance, Development and Public Policy this week.
He was forced to flee his home in Kabul, Afghanistan, when the Taliban took over in August 2021.
Naimat was evacuated by British troops with his wife, Saima, 30, and four children in August 2021.
The family took just a backpack each - containing food, water and a change of clothes.
After spending four months in a hotel in London, the Home Office arranged a permanent move to Hove, East Sussex, in December 2021.
Naimat says his family received a "warm welcome" in the UK and described Sussex as "like home" after a year by the seaside.
He thanked the staff at Sussex University and at the UK Home Office for helping him and his family to settle into life in Britain.
Although his family are used to the cold weather - as Afghanistan can reach temperatures of minus 20 degrees in winter - he says the English rain has been "a bit of a shock".
But, Naimat says his children are adapting well and have even developed a fondness for fish and chips - and his wife is taking English lessons twice a week.
Naimat applied for the government-funded Chevening Scholarship for five years before he was finally accepted by the British embassy in 2021.
The global scholarship is granted to individuals who "show potential to inspire, inform and influence positive change".
During his graduation ceremony, Naimat unfurled a black, red and green Afghanistan flag as a gesture of solidarity with fellow Afghan's living under Taliban rule.
Naimat is now looking to start a PhD at Sussex University in International Development - focusing on aid and poverty in his home country over the past 20 years.
Naimat said: "My family and all Afghans have been through a difficult situation.
"We have lost our country and everything we had. It was heartbreaking to leave everything behind.
“I’m so grateful to Sussex University and the people in the UK.
"With their support, I have been able to complete my studies, and my family has adopted a new community and come to terms with the trauma we have faced.”
Naimat and his family fled Afghanistan in a military plane in August 2021 after the Taliban takeover.
“It was a very heartbreaking moment," he said.
"We were unsure if we would make it or not. We left behind many people who were waiting to leave."
Naimat left with his wife, his mother and father, Mohammad, 71, and Najiba, 62, his brother and sister, and his four children - Hina, 10, Hurmat, eight, Mahnoor, five, and Ahmadtaimur, three.
