When going home is no longer an option. Khaled Hosseini

1,690 views · Published 19 November 2018 · 45:18 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency · 2018 · News & Politics

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In this special bonus episode best-selling author and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Khaled Hosseini tells Melissa Fleming what drives him to focus his energy on storytelling. Through books like The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini has become a household name. His most recent book Sea Prayer is dedicated to the thousands of refugees who have lost their lives at sea fleeing war and persecution. The former Afghan refugee remembers learning he could not go home.
“One night we were in our home and we were having dinner and the TV was on and we saw on our little black and white screen television we saw pictures of Soviet tanks rolling into Afghanistan. And when that happened I remember my parents watching this and looking at each other and, I didn’t know it at the time, but experience in retrospect what many refugees do when that final moment comes.”
To listen to more episodes of "Awake at Night" visit: www.unhcr.org/awakeatnight

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