Mohammed Akbari’s eyes fill with tears when he thinks back to the moment one year ago when his Afghanistan dreams died — when the resurgent Taliban trashed the school for Afghan girls he had built over 30 years, and threatened him with arrest, or worse.

“It’s hard when hundreds of girls are looking at you, and they do not see hope in your eyes,” said Akbari, 60, as his son, Shamsullah, translated. “(I) found out there were girls who decided to kill themselves because of the situation.”

That awful day led Akbari and members of his family into hiding. They endured months of terror and anxiety, hanging onto hope they could join Shamsullah — who had fled Afghanistan a decade ago in the face of Taliban death threats — in Omaha.