Refugee family gives extra donations from son’s funeral to Afghanistan
Feb 28, 2018, 10:26 PM | Updated: 10:38 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – It has been two years since the Karimi family fled to Utah from Afghanistan. In that time, Sayed Karimi said he never imagined he would lose one of his children.
“My son’s body stopped working. His kidney, his chest, and his heart stopped working,” Karimi said.
Seizures, which doctors believe were caused by complications of the flu, killed his 7-year-old son.
“All the time, he was there [at the hospital], I was next to him,” he said. “I didn’t even let him be alone.”
To help pay for funeral costs, friends set up a GoFundMe account. To Karimi’s surprise, it raised $8,000, more than the family said they needed for expenses. 
“There was some extra money that was left and I sent that money for the poor people, for the people that have no good life, they don’t have food, they have nothing,” Karimi said.
Karimi sent $1,500 worth of food and supplies back to his home country to help those less fortunate, an effort he believes would have made his late son proud.
“He is going to be happy,” he said. “I just wanted to start this job because of him.”
The family is continuing to collect funds for supplies to donate to people in Afghanistan. To help, click here for the GoFundMe account.
