‘I need mum and dad here’: the charity helping young Afghan footballers reunite with relatives

From left: Elaha Safdari, Najma Arifi and Narges Mayeli. Safdari: ‘We are safe, but my parents are not.’ Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Observer

Two years on from their arrival in South Yorkshire, young footballers Elaha Safdari, Najma Arifi and Narges Mayeli are still baffled by the array of regional accents in the UK. “I’m always like, ‘Pardon? Can you please repeat? What did you say?’” laughs Arifi, now 20.

This barrier is only a minor hurdle for the trio, who were forced to flee for their lives when the west pulled out of Afghanistan and the Taliban seized power in August 2021.