Manhattan Beach family helps Afghan child find the treatment he needs

On his first night in America, 7-year-old Abdul woke up around midnight and cried quietly for two hours. Helga Samimi, who took the Afghan boy into her family’s Manhattan Beach home, sat by his bed the whole time. The next morning, she called the organization that orchestrated Abdul’s visit ­— Children of War Foundation — and the woman who had escorted him from Kabul to Los Angeles the day before, on Dec. 7, came to visit.