For LASA parent Kamal Khan Daadman, choosing to move to Austin and send his children to LASA was the easy part of his journey from southeastern Afghanistan in 2017. The hard part was learning English, navigating an unfamiliar school system, and supporting a family of 12 as they moved to the opposite side of the globe.
Recently, Afghanistan’s history has been one of constant conflict, as the Soviet Union, then the U.S., invaded the country, creating instability and strife. So when he got the opportunity, he left his job as a professor at the local university and took his family, 10 people at the time, to Austin.
“I was born in a war,” Daadman said. “I grew up in a war, I got my gray hair in a war, and my children were born in a war. To save my family’s lives, that was one of the biggest reasons.”
Daadman was interested in Virginia or California, where his colleagues were already living, but the U.S. Embassy informed him they weren’t able to accept more immigrants. After researching the cost of living in different states, Daadman settled on Texas, though Austin appealed to him for a more spiritual reason.
“I really like the name of Austin,” Daadman said. “Austin seemed to me to be a manly name… I have read the secret book that talks about the universe, and I have read how people connect with each other and can picture a person or a place through the frequencies of their thoughts and get feedback. Believe it or not, I already had pictures of Austin in my mind. The day I came here, I went downtown, and it looked exactly like what I made a picture of.”
“I was born in war. I grew up in a war, I got my gray hair in a war. To save my family’s lives was one of the biggest reasons”
– Kamal Daadman, LASA Parent
Daadman’s children barely got a chance to sleep off the jetlag before they began their American education, attending a range of schools in East Austin, including Gus Garcia Young Men’s Leadership Academy, a boys’ middle school. Going to Gus Garcia entailed learning yet another culture for Rahmanullah, one of Kamal’s sons, who graduated from LASA in 2025. AISD reports that 73.5% of its students are English language learners, and although the Daadman brothers added to that statistic, they also stood out: they spoke Pashto, not Spanish like their classmates.
“It was probably half Spanish, half English, but at the same time, I wasn’t really fluent in any of those, so mine was a completely different language,” Rahmanullah said. “I was still learning English when I heard about LASA. It was a competitive school. I heard that it was good teachers, good materials. Sounds like that’s the best place for me, because I was really competitive in Garcia.”
Current LASA junior Lutfullah Daadman also attended Gus Garcia, where he began to develop the skills that would bring him to, then through, LASA. He credited his reading abilities, which started at zero in a language whose writing system was entirely different from Pashto’s Arabic script, to a friend from elementary school: Michael.
“In the beginning, I didn’t know English at all,” Lutfullah said. “He was sitting at my table, and he helped me through all of it, the whole year. He would help me write and read it out loud. It was popcorn reading with him.”
Through this system, each would read one word or sentence, allowing both to practice and learn as they alternated. At the same time, Lutfullah was able to help Michael with math throughout elementary and middle school.
“I was good at math because it’s a common language,” Lutfullah said. “But English, I wasn’t really good at. I don’t know why he helped me. I didn’t ask him.”
Currently, the only member of the family attending LASA is Lutfullah, but his brother is planning to join him as a freshman next year. Out of the 10 children in the family, two have already graduated from LASA, with the first two having gone to the International School to learn English.
Lutfullah knew LASA’s rigor would challenge him, but that added to its appeal. At Gus Garcia, he found the coursework less compelling and that the academic environment was meager. Despite Islam defining his childhood, the most important cultural factors to Lutfullah were academic, not religious.
“You have to be present,” Lutfullah said. “I didn’t really focus on thinking, ‘He’s Christian, or he’s Hindu.’ That didn’t bother me. I was here to learn.”
Despite the school system’s longer hours, Lutfullah has not missed a single day of school in more than two years. He explained that his educational arc led him to value LASA’s rigor.
“Here it’s eight hours a day,” Lutfullah said. “Over there, it was like three hours, so it was a major change. I didn’t really like it. None of my siblings liked it. For eight hours, your day is just spent at school. But I think that’s good, because throughout eight hours, we learn different subjects, we talk about certain things.”
As the logistical challenges of Austin faded over time, the cultural barriers remained as long as the family preserved their own identity. Dressed in a thawb, the traditional long-sleeve robe popular in Afghanistan and throughout the Arab world, Daadman explained how his family balances national influences.
“24/7, I wear this type of clothes,” Daadman said. “My children, when they come home, they use Afghan cultural clothes. And when they go to school, they wear a Western outfit.”
Although the Daadmans have adopted parts of American culture, they make an effort to preserve their heritage in their home, which is adorned with Afghan carpets and curtains. When they have a chance, the children enjoy playing cricket in local parks, and everyone joins for their monthly dinner of Kabuli Pulao, a dish with rice and meat, around the dastarkhan, a long, low-down table.
“You can’t forget tradition. I still speak Pashto because I do not want to forget it,” Rahmanullah said. “At Texas State, I met this guy who speaks Pashto, but he’s from Pakistan. It was really nice when I met him, and I’m honored that he was speaking Pashto.”
Being one of the older siblings, it took longer for Rahmanullah to grasp English, which has a structure completely different from Pashto. He finally felt he was fluent during his first year at LASA, though his writing from that time showed his unfamiliarity with the language.
“We wrote our senior selves letters, and when I read that letter, I was like, ‘No way I was writing like this. This is some fifth-grade level writing,” Rahmanullah said. “I think if I went to a different high school, I wouldn’t have thought about that.”
Rahmanullah doesn’t have to worry about fifth-grade-level writing now, however. He’s studying engineering at Texas State University, where his older brother Ehsanullah graduated with honors.
“The last seven semesters, Ehsanullah’s been on the Dean’s list,” Daadman said. “Most of the other students were dreaming about it, but he was in every single semester, taking pictures with the dean.”
“You can’t forget tradition. I still speak Pashto because I do not want to forget it.”
– Rahmanullah Daadman, LASA 2025 alumni
While Daadman is proud of his children, he’s also firm with them. Knowing that it would be no small feat to go from refugees to the top of the class, he used their family dynamics to uplift the scholars instead of hindering them.
“As soon as we understood that GPA has the most important role, I just told my children, ‘hey, a new mission’s started,’” Daadman said. “So focus on GPA. No one needs to get a B, so everyone needs to get an A. If anyone in my family since then gets a B, the rest of the children call him Mr. B.”
Daadman now spends almost all of his time working as an Uber driver. Although he knows it’s a far cry from his work in Afghanistan teaching English and business, the reward is worth it to Daadman.
“I really did not come here to enjoy my life, because as you can see, I cannot enjoy my life,” Daadman said. “I am here only for my children, to have them enjoy their lives. They will be the next generation, they will be working, building America, working, building communities, working hard to make things better and better.”
