Afghan tot named for Trump
DONALD Trump flops over his pink and white baby walker and rolls it around his family’s modest home in Kabul, blissfully unaware of the turmoil his “infidel” name is causing in the deeply conservative Muslim country.
The rosy-cheeked toddler’s parents named him after the billionaire US president in the hope of replicating his success.
But now he is at the centre of a social media storm in Afghanistan after a photo of his ID papers was posted on Facebook.
A self-confessed fan of the leader of the free world, Sayed Assadullah Pooya said he and his wife had been inundated with vulgar and insulting comments attacking their choice of name for their third child.
Some Facebook users have gone as far as threatening to kill Sayed, 28, for giving his son an “infidel name”, while others have accused him of endangering the boy’s life.
There are even suggestions Sayed is using the moniker to wangle asylum in the US, a charge the teacher vehemently denies.
“I didn’t know at the beginning that Afghan people would be so sensitive about a name,” he said.
Sayed said someone had posted the picture online, sparking the controversy that forced him to close his Facebook account.
Even Sayed’s neighbours in the heavily Shiite area of Kabul where they live have threatened the family and told them to leave.
“When I go out of the house, I feel intimidated,” he said.
Donald was born in the central province of Daikundi, a few months before the 2016 US presidential election, on the farm where Sayed’s parents and grandparents grew almonds, wheat and corn.
Sayed was inspired to call his son Donald Trump after reading the Persian language versions of the businessman’s books, including “How To Get Rich”, which he borrowed from the library.
He hopes his son will be as successful, saying that photos of the older Trump already make his younger namesake happy.
But bemusement turned to anger when Sayed’s parents realised the couple were serious about the name.
As relations broke down the young family moved to Kabul, and they are now estranged from their relatives.
Their life could not be more different from their son’s namesake.
The family of five is squeezed into a spartan room overlooking a small courtyard and outdoor bathroom, all they can afford. There are mud houses and open drains.
While Sayed is worried about his family’s safety, particularly Donald’s, he remains stubbornly unrepentant about the name.
“I won’t reconsider. To hell with the other people.” – AFP