I never thought that one day I would have to leave my motherland. Becoming an immigrant was something that I never thought of. However, the time has come that I was forced to migrate to another country and it was the repeat of history in the 1999s.
Reyhan Hossein, who had his first cry and smile in the neighboring country (Iran), said she was four years old when her parents decided to return back to Afghanistan in the hope of a better future after the formation of the Republic government in 2002 under the then president Hamid Karzai. We were very happy to return back to our country and get rid of displacement and migration, Reyhan said. She said that she couldn’t explain the joy of their family at that time.
“When I was growing up by passing each day, I was happily stretched out my hand towards my native land and with long and firm steps I made my way to a land where green and eye-pleasing meadows, the wounded body of Salsal and Shamama, the tall mountains of Pamir and its Hindukush, Amu and Hari Road.
This “Salsal and Shamama” is the story of an old man and old woman who spent their whole lives to achieve peace and freedom, but their dreams remained a wish.
The people in the past buried this dream and we rotted in hope while we were alive. “My parents returned to their homeland hoping to create a better future for their children in their own country and to get rid of the deprivation they faced during immigrating. But now we’re back on the square,” she added.
Going to university with enthusiasm
Reyhan’s father bought a house in Zaman Khan Castle so that his children could study. “I went to school there, passed the entrance exam with enthusiasm and was successful in areas of philosophy and sociology at Kabul University. My happiness is indescribable as I was reaching my dreams gradually,” she added.
For her, the beginning of university was mostly a period of familiarization with courses, university environment, professors and many other things.
She said that when she entered the lessons seriously, they faced the peak of COVID-19 and only went to university on exam days. By passing COVID, she said that she was in the third year of university when the news of the fall of some provinces emerged in the media.
However, during conversation with her classmates, she said that the Taliban can’t take over Balkh province and Kabul, the capital city. However, the next day, the Taliban took control of Kabul.
The president (Ashraf Ghani) simply ran away and Kabul surrendered without a single bullet being fired, which is a good thing at least no more “blood” was perished.
“The first night, the first week, the first month and the first year, we were always waiting for something new. Some changes appeared, including that no more girls were allowed to attend universities,” she lamented. Schools for girls also closed, and the women were barred from going to workplaces and public parks. “Among them, me and my sisters were also deprived of education,” she lamented.
After the ban on education, she said that she spent the last days with difficulty and saw that there was no more space and opportunity left for her in the country except to get married and become a housewife. “This was not my target, but to escape the calamity, I came to Iran with plenty of sadness,” she lamented.
Leaving Afghanistan was not easy
“When we passed the gate of Islam Qala toward Iran, I looked back for the last time, I saw nothing but cars waiting in line to cross the border as women, men and children were coming towards Iran,” according to her.
She furthered, “The weight of homelessness is on my heart and I still dream of returning to my country Afghanistan.When I wake up, I see that I am in Iran, my heart starts to bleed and can’t control myself and starts crying.”
After a few days, she went to find a job. “I went to see two jobs and because I spoke Farsi with a Kabuli accent, they did not hire me until my aunt found me a job in a show making company.”
This is not a good job at all, she said, adding that no Iranians were working there. “I was with my aunt and I was not allowed to talk. She was talking to them and I would just keep quiet so they wouldn’t know I was new, otherwise they might not have hired me.”
Facing discrimination in Iran
She doesn’t want to take a risk by speaking out. “I had to find a job as soon as possible. I needed money. To start a life from zero, in a new city, money is key to pay the home rent, pay electricity, water, and gas bills as well as food to survive.”
She went for a three day test work so that the owner of the company could see her work. “Our job was a shoe brand with machines. For a girl who had never worked in her life, on the first day every hour passed like several days. Maybe those eight hours ended like twenty-four hours.”
Some Iranians behaved very well while some others were crucial.
“For instance, I went to a supermarket, a man said they don’t sell anything to Afghans, and I went several times out of ignorance, and he just said they didn’t have anything.”
she experienced this in many other markets, and said she never went again to these shops that are not selling to the Afghans.
There are millions of Afghans living in Iran, and recently Iran departed hundreds of them.
