6-year-old refugee from Afrin speaks six languages, stuns family

Aside from her native tongue Kurdish, Sarah Rashid can speak English, Arabic, French, Mandarin, and Hindi.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Specialists in the Kurdistan Region and abroad have called for attention to be paid to a 6-year-old girl from Afrin with a high IQ who speaks six languages.

Sarah Rashid is the daughter of refugees from Afrin who have sought asylum in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil. The young girl has a rare talent: she speaks six different languages.

The bright youngster even writes stories in the different languages on her laptop.

According to her mother, Sarah was a year-and-a-half when a fourth-grade teacher came and told her that the young girl was reading. “We didn’t believe it, but when we saw it with our own eyes, we were stunned,” she told Kurdistan 24.

“We took her to kindergarten, and the teachers were all shocked at her ability to read and write and speak many languages at such a young age.”

Aside from her native tongue Kurdish, Sarah can speak English, Arabic, French, Mandarin, and Hindi.

The young girl’s mother says her daughter wants to learn more and has asked for books in different languages, something the family cannot afford. She also said many specialists have highlighted Sarah’s high IQ and unique ability and have asked to adopt her abroad to study.

Kurdistan 24 spoke to the family’s physician who agreed that Sarah is a unique child with a very high IQ.

“This young girl has a gift that not many people have,” the physician stated. “She has an innate desire to learn and is very curious. This child is special and should be enrolled in an institution where she can enhance her skills.”

However, Sarah’s mother does not want her daughter to leave Kurdistan and believes the region will one day have all the services and resources her daughter requires.

“I don’t have the means to help my daughter realize her potential,” Mrs. Rashid told Kurdistan. “A doctor from the United Arab Emirates had requested from me to take Sarah abroad to provide her the services required, but I did not accept.”

“We are here in the Kurdistan Region, and we hope she will have everything she needs here. We want to stay here.”

(Additional reporting by Zardasht Hame)