Their mother is a stay-at-home mom who was “both our mom and dad at the same time when our dad wasn’t there,” Sana said.ĭespite the upheaval of moving in 2015, Seena said, the siblings began to adapt to their new situation. A civilian, he spends most of his time at sea aboard vessels serving U.S. Before civil war broke out in his home country, he would visit Yemen for a month every year or two, his children said. Their father is an expatriate who has lived in Norfolk since 1998 and works as a chief electrician for the Military Sealift Command. The Alkaifis were more fortunate than many of their neighbors. 'So if something happened, our house was literally next to it,” Fozi said. Making matters worse, the family lived just one street away from the Ministry of Transport, Seena said, a prime target where warehouses held explosives used in building roads and rail lines. “We were under tables, and I vividly remember the faces of all the girls. 'There was a huge noise, and the whole school went crazy,” Seena said. One day, a shell exploded near the school Sana and Seena attended. It explodes, and then it explodes again and the house shakes.” When a bomb goes down, there's a couple of explosions, not just that one.

And you know, when a bomb occurs, the shaking of the house continues. “We saw the smoke coming up, and I told all my cousins, 'Come in! Come in! Come in!’ And they just started running up into the house. The children felt the blast while playing with their cousins outside their grandfather’s house, Fozi remembered. At the time, their father and oldest brother were out of the country. In early 2015, warplanes fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen bombed the southwestern city of Taiz, where the Alkaifi family lived – five children and their mother. Through it all – fleeing civil war in Yemen, moving to America, adjusting to the culture, enrolling in new schools, finding academic paths, enduring COVID-19 shutdowns – they've drawn strength from a powerful source: one another. “It’s the Year of Graduation for the family!” Seena said with a laugh. That’s right: The Alkaifi name will be announced no fewer than three times at S.B. On the same day, his sister Seena, 21, a public health major, will receive her bachelor’s from ODU.Īnd so will their sister Sana, 24, who’s studying psychology. That’s notable in itself, but there’s more. On May 6, Fozi Alkaifi – only 19 years old – will graduate from Old Dominion University with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics.

I Am Your Sister by Ericka K.F. Simpson