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.<br /><br />Naimat Zafary, 37, graduated from Sussex University with a merit in Governance, Development and Public Policy this week.<br /><br />He was forced to flee his home in Kabul, Afghanistan, when the Taliban took over in August 2021. <br /><br />Naimat was evacuated by British troops with his wife, Saima, 30, and four children in August 2021.<br /><br />The family took just a backpack each - containing food, water and a change of clothes.<br /><br />After spending four months in a hotel in London, the Home Office arranged a permanent move to Hove, East Sussex, in December 2021.<br /><br />Naimat says his family received a "warm welcome" in the UK and described Sussex as "like home" after a year by the seaside.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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".<br /><br />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. <br /><br />Naimat applied for the government-funded Chevening Scholarship for five years before he was finally accepted by the British embassy in 2021.<br /><br />The global scholarship is granted to individuals who "show potential to inspire, inform and influence positive change". <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />Naimat said: "My family and all Afghans have been through a difficult situation. <br /><br />"We have lost our country and everything we had. It was heartbreaking to leave everything behind. <br /><br />“I’m so grateful to Sussex University and the people in the UK. <br /><br />"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.”<br /><br />Naimat and his family fled Afghanistan in a military plane in August 2021 after the Taliban takeover. <br /><br />“It was a very heartbreaking moment," he said. <br /><br />"We were unsure if we would make it or not. We left behind many people who were waiting to leave." <br /><br />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.
