ARTICLES

Afghani refugee finds new life without fear

By Eliza Wright
Special to The Catholic Virginian

If you’ve read either of the recent best sellers about Afghanistan, “The Kite Runner” or “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” you’ll have some idea of the life its citizens have under the Taliban.

In Hampton, the diocesan Office of Refugee and Immigration Services has been helping a family who lived under this oppressive regime. The daughter Susana, a young woman of 21, tells the story of her drastic life change when the Taliban came into power.

Before 1997, Susana experienced a carefree childhood. Her father worked in the Government Finance Ministry, providing well for his wife and two children.

When the Taliban came in power she remembers everything changing quickly. Women and girls were forced to cover themselves head to foot with burqas, and were beaten if any bit of skin showed in public.

Schools and universities were closed. Televisions and radios were off limits, except for Taliban propaganda broadcasts in Pashtu, a regional language her Dari speaking family in Kabul did not know.

Electricity was a thing of the past — radios were run by battery or not at all. Many were so impoverished that they were tempted to steal food to survive. But they knew they risked having their hands cut off.

Because Susana’s father worked for the deposed government, his life was in danger. He took his son and fled to Moscow.

There he worked in a shop selling umbrellas, learned Russian, and sent money home to his wife and daughter. Meanwhile, they waited in fear for three long years until they could leave their homeland for good.

Susana was especially concerned about getting out of the country before she reached the marrying age of 14. She knew that in Afghanistan neither her mother nor she would have any choice in her marriage. She was likely to be matched with a man 40 or older, to be his unquestioning servant for the rest of her life.

Susana and her mother traveled to Russia in 2000. She so excelled in the high school she attended that she was often used as a substitute teacher. After graduation she was hired to teach grades 1—8 the Persian language. The family lived there for the next seven years.

The family was not given permission to become legal residents in Russia. Without a country, they applied for and received refugee status from the United States.

Here now one year, Susana revels in America’s freedom and opportunity. This girl who was brought up to expect only a subservient role in life has a strong sense of herself and says she never wants to have to go to her husband begging for money.

She relishes the independence that this nation was founded on, and holds lofty goals to go to college and major in business.

Refugee and Immigration Services has helped the family with housing, employment services, case management and English lessons through volunteers who come to the home.

The father has had a number of health concerns, which have entailed staff interventions to take him for testing, counseling, and numerous follow up visits to monitor his progress.

The teenaged son, who has been enrolled in school, has had tutoring to help him catch up to grade level.

Staff members, volunteers and a college intern have invested countless hours in helping this family get stabilized and become self-sufficient. We are pleased to see the budding fruit of our labors.

Freedom and independence are important to the American way of life and thinking. Many natives take it for granted, while others risk their lives to taste its sweetness.

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