Separated for Nearly a Year, a Young Afghan Refugee Was Happily Reunited with Her Dog
Rebecca West
Parting may be thought of as such "sweet sorrow" but reuniting is EVERYTHING! That was the case for a young woman in British Colombia that had fled Afghanistan the year before due to her work as a social activist fighting for women's rights. The worst part of all this upheaval? Having to say goodbye to her dog, Lucky, and cat, Leo, so that they might leave the country safely on an international rescue transport for pets.
A target of the Taliban for many years, 27-year-old Freshta Siddiqui knew it was time to get out of Dodge when the withdrawal of U.S. troops first began. As single women, she and her mother were not allowed to live alone there (it's forbidden), and working outside the home under the hardline religious regime was highly discouraged.
Afghanistan is also where she met Lucky. She had rescued him off the streets of Kabul, where he was being stoned by local children. In the end, however, Freshta says the 3.5-year-old Lucky saved her life, not the other way around, when the Taliban arrived outside of her home and began to attack, ultimately alerting them to the danger. Recognizing that it wasn't safe for them to be there anymore, she escaped to neighboring Pakistan with her mom.
In a frustrating turn of events, they had to wait 10 months before flying to Canada to collect her beloved dog pets. There came a point where she had begun to worry that she may never see either of them again, but she tried to hold out hope.
"Lucky means family to me," Siddiqui told CBC News. "Lucky means a part of my heart that was gone and now, I've got him."
When she and Lucky were finally together again, she ran up to him while repeating the word "salem," which means peaceful, safe, complete, and/or perfect in Arabic. But Lucky's joy and exuberance at seeing his human again was such that peacefulness was clearly not on the menu. On the other hand, it was perfect.
The separation anxiety and signs of trauma that Lucky is said to have initially displayed after arriving in Vancouver last year was a thing of the past when he saw Freshta again. He obviously recognized her, so don't let people try to tell you dog's have short memories, because cases like these are a reminder that it's simply not true.
If you'd like to see their reunion for yourself, check out the sweet video below.
https://youtu.be/dmPwdFJ5OAM
