The home of Freia-Mai Franck and Hans Sick in the southern Swedish town of Karlshamn is very lively these days. This couple in their 70s — who have grown kids and grandkids of their own — took in a pair of Afghan teenagers three months ago.

Franck says she was a refugee herself after World War II, when her family fled eastern Germany from the advancing Soviet army.

"That is what comes up when I see children that don't have their parents and had to flee," she says. "I'm remembering what was happening to me when I was a child and how I got hope and the desire to live again."

The couple now hopes to bring joy and stability to the lives of two boys, Novid, 14, and Mosen, 15, who traveled from Afghanistan to Sweden last year without their respective families.

Sweden is grappling with a record number of migrants seeking asylum, including 35,000 unaccompanied minors who arrived in the country last year alone. Once in Sweden, each child is assigned a legal guardian. Most live together in special homes. Some, like these boys, have been taken in by Swedish families.

Difficult Journeys
Mosen's impoverished family had fled to Iran to escape the Taliban in Afghanistan. They used the last of their money to send Mosen on to Europe. Novid became separated from his family during his family's journey to Europe. He says many kids are traveling alone. But they find each other.

"You don't stay alone," he says. "We traveled together and the older kids looked after us. We helped and protected each other from bad people like smugglers."

Novid says sometimes they went for several days without eating, and often slept outside. For the first month after they arrived in their new home, Mosen and Novid just wanted to stay in bed and sleep, Franck says. - Read More at the NPR

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