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From
Fear to Hope for Afghanistan |
Posted:
10.16.06
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In 1998, after threats by the Taliban, an 8-year-old Afghan student
fled her home with her family. She returned 5 years later after
the ousting of the Taliban regime.
Now 16, the student wrote about her experience while in the United
States, participating in the American Councils's Afghanistan Youth
Exchange and Study program.
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I was born in 1990 in Kabul, Afghanistan, where my dad ran a
retail shop with the help of my brothers. I enjoyed school and
lived without any kind of fear.
 But
one summer day when I was 8 years old, my dad came home asking
me where my mom was. I told him I did not know. He left the house
to look for her, and soon my whole family was home. My dad asked
my mom to pack some water and bread. I didn't know what was happening
-- I did not really care.
I asked my dad if we could go out for ice cream.
"No, my dear. We don't have time for that. We have to leave
here again."
I asked why? "Please, lets go," he said.
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Fear of Taliban
attacks |
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He told me that the Taliban were very close to the city and we
would have to leave.
But it was too late. The Taliban were already in the city. We
could hear gunfire. The sounds were getting louder.
I became very scared. I asked my mom what was happening, but
she kept saying that it was nothing and that everything would
be fine. But noises of machine guns, women and children screaming
and crying made this a real hell.
We could not escape the city at this point so, helpless, we spent
the night in the basement of our house. Every one in my family
was saying good-bye to each other because we thought that this
would be last night of our life.
Local people had fought the Taliban, making them retreat. We
survived. The next morning there was silence. Thousands of bullets
were left in our yard.
We later heard on the news that 11,000 people were killed that
night.
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Fleeing Kabul |
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Three months later, the violence started again. My dad said we
should get out of the house. We did. The whole city was trying
to get out. Everybody was running and the dust was so thick that
we could not see each other.
By calling out, we found each other. We could hear sounds of
guns. I was scared, but I didn't cry.
It was hard to decide where to go, which way to and when to go.
People told us not to go any further because the Taliban were
coming. A man whose eye was injured and bleeding said he could
help if we wanted to stay with him. My dad said we were waiting
for death anyway, so, having no place to go, it would better to
go with him. My mom said it would be better if we died on the
street. We spent the night with the man in a crowded palace, and
next morning found a truck at a bus station that could help us
get out of the city.
As we drove toward the mountains, not by highways or roads --
they were not safe -- Taliban planes attacked. They bombed us,
but again we survived. After spending another night in the truck,
parked in a garden, we were finally able to get out of the city.
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A new life |
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After four days without water, we got to Pulkhomri, where one
of my father's friends lived. He helped us move to Pakistan, where
we restarted our lives and I restarted school. I had a hard time
adjusting, but I did well in school. After 5 years in Pakistan,
we returned to Kabul in 2003 to start our lives over again.
Then, in 2005, I received some information about a student exchange
program in the United States. Thousands of students applied, but
only 40 students were finalists. I was one of them.
I knew that going to United States would be hard for me but I
really wanted to see someplace new, someplace with no war.
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Seeing differences
in America |
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In Wisconsin, I am seeing a completely new world and I am doing
things I never did in my country. I never played any kind of sports,
but now I am on the volleyball team in school, and doing many
other things that I would never have had the opportunity to do
in Afghanistan.
As the youngest participant in a women's leadership conference,
I was asked many questions about my country -- and I loved answering
them.
I have seen students in Afghanistan studying on the ground without
classrooms, studying under sunshine. Here students are so fortunate
to have so many opportunities. I hope and wish that I can take
what I have learned in the United States to do something to help
my country's future.
--
The author is a 16-year-old Afghan-born student who came to a
Wisconsin high school as part of the U.S. State department-funded
Afghanistan Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program. The YES program
brought 40 exchange students to U.S. high schools in the 2006-2007
school year.
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