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Heela Yaacoobi
Mr. Harris
US History
12 March 2015
Samad Asefi
My grandfather, Samad Asefi, was born in Kabul, Afghanistan on December 7, 1932. He
was the oldest of five children, having three brothers and one sister. His mother died when he
was very young and his father remarried. He was brought up by a step mother, Kamar Gul. He
was brought up in a very well respected and wealthy family. As a child, he lived in the central
part of Kabul where his parents owned five houses on the same street. He was the top student of
his German-run high school, Amani School, and enjoyed taking German as a second language.
He took extra German classes outside of school. When he was in high school, he became so
advanced in German that he applied to a job where he would to translate Farsi books to German
and German books to Farsi. When he graduated high school, Samad was one of three individuals
who were granted a scholarship to attend college in Germany. In 1954, He attended Munich
University and studied journalism and photography. He got his masters in photography and
journalism and moved back to Afghanistan.
When he came back, his parents proposed a marriage with a girl that they were family
friends with. He started to spend time with her and eventually fell in love with her. He married
my grandmother, Jamila Asefi in 1959. His father gave him one of his houses to live in with his
new bride. With the extra money, he opened a photography store and founded Afghan Film
Company. He started as King Zahir Shah special photographer. He travelled with him all over
the world and made documentary movies about the kings travels. At the same time he started
specializing in scenic photos of different cities in Afghanistan. He made calendars and post cards

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to sell outside of the country to introduce and exhibit Afghanistans beauty to the rest of the
world. He developed an AGFA film import and introduced color photography and printing to
Afghanistan. His photography store was one of the top in Kabul. Within a few years, he
successfully extended a chain of his photography stores all throughout Afghanistan. He
developed twenty more stores that were selling cameras and developing films.
Samad had four children, and when his wife was pregnant with his second child, my
mother, he had to attend a mandatory military service for the Afghan army. However, because he
had a diploma, he only served for six months. Fortunately, when my mother was being born, he
was allowed to take leave to visit his wife and his new child. A month later, he was discharged.
He became the president of Afghan Film Company. My mother remembers going to his office
once. She recalls the whole office and building being made out of marble, which was rare for
Afghanistan at the time. He started importing foreign films and introducing them to the afghan
cinemas. He worked in Afghan Film to translate all foreign movies to Farsi. Samad produced
many original Afghan films such as Rabia Balki, Sawar Karaan. Samad developed a heart
condition after his third child was born and developed diabetes. However, in those years an open
heart surgery could not be performed if you were diabetic. later that year, the largest hospital in
New York City, New York, started doing open heart surgeries on diabetic patients. Having
enough money, Samad enrolled for an operation for March of 1973. On January 21, 1973, he
hosted a party for foreign filmmakers and actors in celebration of the contract between those
countries and Afghan Film. He collapsed with a heart attack and passed away before getting to
the hospital. He died at 42 years old in Kabul, Afghanistan and rests there today. He left behind
four children, ages of two, four, seven, and fourteen, who will always feel the pain of missing a
father.

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Jamila Asefi
My grandmother, Jamila Asefi, was born on July 21, 1941 in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is
the third oldest of seven children. She has three sisters and three brothers. Jamila was the
daughter of a businessmen and a house wife. As a child, she was very ambitious and very smart.
She was always dreaming of coming to the United States and enjoyed reading books and
newspapers to her parents who were illiterate. She attended Zarghona High School at the time
where there were not many woman graduates from high school. After she finished high school
she got married to my grandfather, Samad Asefi. She had four children with Samad and was a
very busy mother, juggling work and children. She attended Kabul University and studied
psychology to become a high school teacher. She taught at Jamooryat High School in Kabul. She
worked her way up and within a few years she became the principal of the high school. She was
also helping her husband with his photography and film business on the side.
She had a lot of help raising her children because she had nannies, drivers, and cooks,
due to her husband being well off and well known. Jamilas husband passed away on January 21,
1973 and she was devastated. She was left alone with four children and the Russian invasion.
When the Russians took over, she was being watched by the Russian appointed government and
was in risk of being put in jail due to her high educational position. Jamila sold all of her
belongings and property as a new widow, and hoped for the best. Nevertheless, because she had
known many high level people, she was able to get a passport and move with her children to
Germany, where her brother in law resided, in 1980. In Germany, she stayed in Hamburg for two
years waiting to get a visa to go to the United States. She sent all of her children to German
schools and tried to help them with the thick language barrier that stood between them and their
classwork. In 1982, Jamila and her family moved to Virginia, where her brother lived, and

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enrolled her children into American schools. She went to school to become a hair dresser and
babysat part time. Her children went to American high schools and American Universities.
Jamila decided to follow her older daughters decisions and moved to California with her
daughter and son in law. She had heard of the enormous business opportunities in California and
decided that it would be a better place for her. She moved to Modesto, California and opened a
gas station and convenient store business. She ran the business for a few years, but sold it later
on and moved to the Bay Area. Her other children got married and moved to California as well.
She decided that she would like to live alone, and currently resides in an apartment in a quiet
Walnut Creek neighborhood.
Ghutai Arsala Yaqubi
My grandmother, Ghutai Arsala Yaquibi was born on June 11, 1945 in Kabul,
Afghanistan. She is the third oldest of 10 children. She has 5 brothers and 4 sisters. Her father
was the mayor of Jalalabad in Afghanistan and her mother was a housewife. She was from a well
off family and had servants and chauffeurs. She spent winters in Jalalabad with her family and
attended high school Kabul. She got married at age 18 to Wali Yaqubi in 1963 and had four
children, Ahmad Wali, Abdullah, Hamidullah, and Wajmah, three sons and one daughter. Ghutai
never worked in Afghanistan, and was a housewife. Her husband was an engineer and after many
years, he opened a business.
When the Russians invaded, she sent her two oldest sons to Pakistan. After three months
of living away from her sons, she moved to Pakistan with her younger daughter, son, and
husband. After spending a year in Pakistan, they were granted visas to move to the United States.
They decided to follow the large Afghan-United States migration and went to Northern Virginia.
In the United States, Ghutai had to find work to help support her family. Despite never working

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out of the house, she found a job working at a retirement home kitchen. She enrolled her children
into high school and middle schools in Northern Virginia. Three of her children went to college
and her youngest son went to the Marines. In March of 1998, her husband, Wali Yaqubi passed
away from a heart attack and a stroke following. After the passing of her husband, she did not
want to live alone. Her youngest son provided her with a place to live in his own home. She lived
with Hamidullah for two years and then went to go live with her oldest child, Ahmad Wali. In
2013, Ahmad Wali and his family decided to move to Concord, California. She moved with them
and currently lives in Concord.

Wali Yaqubi
My grandfather, Wali Yaqubi, was born on November 21, 1938. When he was born, his
mother died of complications forty days after he was born. His dad remarried to a woman named
Baija. Wali had two biological brothers, two biological sisters, two step sisters, and two step
brothers. His father was the prime minister of Afghanistan and both his step wife and wife were
house wives. After there was a government takeover, they gave his father a choice of leaving the
country or going to jail, so he moved his family to Iran and Wali went to Iran with his father. He
was about 6 years old when he moved to Iran and stayed there for eighteen years. He finished
high school in Iran and attended college in Iran. He was granted a scholarship and went to Russia
for two years and earned an engineering degree.
After that, he worked for a government owned engineering firm and worked there for
about 15 years in Kabul Afghanistan. He opened up a Cocacola company and had a share in that
company as well. He got married to Ghutai Arsala and had four children with her. He enjoyed

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riding horses with his children and taking road trips to Jalalabad in the winter. When the
Russians invaded Afghanistan, he sent his kids out of the country to Pakistan. In that time period,
he sold his business and moved to Pakistan to be with his children. Wali and his family were
granted visas to go to the United States and moved to Virginia. He lived in Virginia for fifteen
years as a retired citizen and passed away in March of 1998, four years before I was born. My
father was devastated and had to leave his pregnant wife alone in California while he arranged
the funeral in Virgnia.

Mohammad Asef Asefi

My great grandfather, Mohammad Asef Asefi was born in Ghazni, Afghanistan. He
became a very well-known tailor and designer. He began to design and tailor clothes for the rich
and famous in Afghanistan including the king. He owned a lot of land and was the owner of five
houses on the same street. As his children grew up and got married, he would grant them each a
house. He allowed his daughter and his oldest son to study abroad in Germany. He encouraged
his third son to become a pilot for Ariana Afghanistan Airlines. Although he was illiterate, he
raised all of his children and managed to get them all to college. His wife died when his children
were very young and he remarried to ensure that his children would be raised with a mother. He
continued the business of designing and tailoring. He passed away at 90 years old due to old age.

Mohammad Yaqub Yaqubi

My great grandfather, Mohammad Yaqub Yaqubi, was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in the
1900s. He had two brothers and two sisters. He went to school and studied political science. He

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slowly worked his way up in the senate and became the prime minister of the country when
Amanullah Khan was the king of Afghanistan. He served as a prime minister for over five years
until King Nader Shah took over the country and made Amanullah Khan and my great
grandfather move out of the country in order not to get imprisoned. When he left the country, he
lost a lot of land and houses that he had previously owned because the new government took
over all of his property. He raised his children and his family in Iran for 18 years. He was
permitted to come back to Afghanistan after 18 years due to a change of government and King
Zaher Shah taking over the country. He was appointed a quarter of what he had previously
owned, but shortly after he came back to his homeland, he passed away. His children continued
to study in Afghanistan and carry on the legacy of their father.