Actor Michael Ealy wrote a touching tribute to wife Khatira Rafiqzada on Sunday as violence raged on in her native Kabul, Afghanistan.
“My love,” his message begins. “This may have been one of the hardest moments I’ve ever witnessed for you. I’ve struggled to find the words about the situation in Kabul. I can only talk about what I see on the ground here.”
He added that Rafiqzada had two children and experienced postpartum depression with both births, but that it “simply can’t compare to watching your birthplace fall apart. I imagine this loss has a lot to do with the nostalgia of your childhood, and for that, I’m so sorry.”
“I’ve felt your sense of loss, confusion, and hurt,” Ealy wrote. “I’ve witnessed you crying in the corner alone just to gather yourself.” He added that Rafiqzada has turned rooms in their home into “mini command centers,” noting that she is trying to sponsor Afghan families and locate family members.
“The devastation you endured the last few weeks has been undeniable,” he continued. “I pray that you have felt seen, heard, supported & free in your space here to be vulnerable and whatever else you needed. I’ve seen you try to put into words what this ALL means. The worst part may have been watching you try to explain this devastation to Elijah,” their son.
“We love you and we are with u always,” Ealy contended. “People even reached out to me to check on you and some sent flowers! I’m grateful for all of their well wishes, thoughts, and prayers. For many of them, you were the only Afghan they’ve ever met.”
He writes that he admires his wife’s “quiet strength,” adding, “I find it beautiful and beguiling.” He adds that while she has been quiet on social media, she has been a “quiet soldier” behind the scenes.
The couple has been married since 2012. Rafiqzada is a former actress who fled Afghanistan with her parents at the age of 12. Her family was sponsored for citizenship by Catholic Charities as victims of war.
In a 2017 post on Instagram, she wrote that she loved her childhood “and bc war hadn’t yet made it to our backyard, I couldn’t understand why we left my country.” In the post, she was writing in support of the Dream Act, which allows young people a path to American citizenship.
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