From the outside, the office blends in — small windows, a beige plaza, another typical Fort Myers building. Step inside Lutheran Services Florida - Comprehensive Refugee Services (LFS) and there’s a feeling... not a sight or a sound, rather warmth.
Past the reception desk, a hallway leads to a meeting room. 8-year-old Kiana Llanos Acosta sits at a table, wearing a pink, sparkly dress, and concentrates on her coloring. Her parents and little brother watch from the corner. Llanos Acosta came from Ecuador as a kindergartner. She doesn’t remember much, but she calls Fort Myers home.
“I want to be here forever.”
She's received numerous accolades already: honor roll, principal's award and the citizenship award. She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up and sends a message to other refugee children who are having trouble adjusting.
“That's okay. I go to help you.”
As the Llanos Acosta family finishes, a man walks in. Black shirt, khakis, straight hair, full beard that can't hide his smile when he sees his old co-workers rushing to embrace him. Maihan Saeedi used to work at LFS until budget cuts. But four years ago, Saeedi sat where Kiana's family sits now, seeking help as a refugee himself.
“It was extremely challenging. It’s kind of [like] an injury. When an injury is very new, you don't realize the pain so much, because it’s fresh... But when that first adrenaline goes away ... the pain sets in, and you realize what has happened and what you've lost.”
He'd been the General Director of Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry until the Taliban took control in 2021. The escape was harrowing. US media outlets showed footage of Afghans clinging to planes.
“Unfortunately, because of our seating, we couldn't be near the window. We were on the floor of the plane. Those photos you saw were real. Those photos were not just photoshopped,” he said. “Once we kind of landed and that physical safety was no more a concern, I think then this emotional tsunami kind of hit me—what just happened?”
The hardest part for Saeedi wasn’t just starting over; it was losing everything he’d built.
“When you know that between your house and your books and your whatever money that you have in the bank and your car and your life, you have to choose one. You choose life, always.”
America wasn't what he expected.
“We think that life is so easy. People are just making dollars left and right and like you know it's United States of America. But when you come here, you realize also, there is poverty here. Also, there is a lot of neglect and abuse here. Also, there's a lot of problems: of course, every society have their own issues."
What kept him going was the realization he had no choice but to move forward.
“When we came to the realization that now this has happened and we have to move on, I think there was understanding that in this country, you don't have a lot of time to kind of sit and grieve. You have to move. No other help is coming from somewhere. There's not going to be any savior. It's you and your situation.”
LFS Program Director Lilian Pagan has seen that transformation repeatedly.
“I even have staff members that we hired as they were coming in as refugees. Many of them have gone out and started families. That's the most success story I can give you.”
But the numbers tell a different story.
“We used to see at least 100 to 200 a day in the front lobby, ready to register for services. Now they're just trickling in.”
Earlier this year, the program itself faced crisis when services were suspended due to government funding holds. They reopened in July. Saeedi now works at Guardian Ad Litem, helping Fort Myers children. He said working with other refugees was healing.
“I think a lot of the emotional damage that I had, I kind of managed to compensate it by the care and the compassion that was shown to me here... It was a collective kind of joint effort by everybody to make these families at least be in a place where they will feel safe.”
Today, Saeedi is married, has a young son and new goals.
“I don't have really big hopes for myself. What will really make me happy is to see my son do something... As they say in our culture, food and money will come, happiness you have to seek.”
As for his hopes for new refugees.
“I hope they get the same love and compassion and services that I and so many others received.”
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