PAGE LINKS: The Afghan Family ~ Mari Abad ~ Afghan Refugee Presentation ~ Hazaras ~ Welcome Corps ~ Status of Our Efforts

The Afghan Family

The Afghans who fled to Pakistan in 2016 included a grandmother (Feroz), her daughter (Rana), and husband (Ali), and the widow of Feroz’s son, (who disappeared and presumably was murdered on a trip from Kabul to Herat to get some supplies to make pouches for sale) (Nasiba) and her two children (Maisam and Maryam). Since then, Rana and Ali have had a son (Amir), who is now four years old, with a second son expected in October or November.

 They are a loving family and have each other and have access to the Internet via wi-fi in the neighborhood (when they have electricity, praying to be able to emigrate to safety elsewhere, to earn a living, and to contribute to a new community.

 These are the seven (soon to be eight) members of the family:

 The family applied at the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) seeking to emigrate to a safe country. UNHCR has registered each of them a “Refugee Seekers”, but this does not offer them an ID card that would enable them to participate in the economy (e.g., have a bank account, credit card, start a business, or receive money), go to a university, or use intercity transportation, and many other things. UNHCR considers them to be at least two separate families: the first being grandma associated with one of her children’s spouse with their children and the second the other child of grandma, spouse, and their children. Maisam has just turned 21 yrs-old and sooner or later may be considered an adult independent of the others.)

Feroza is the loving grandmother in the family. She is the mother of Rana and Naisam’s presumably deceased husband. She is the grand mother to Maisam, Maryam, and Amir and will be the grandmother of Rana’s second son, who is expected at the end of October or early November.

Feroz is a widow believed to be in her seventies (Afghans don’t have birth certificates and don’t make much if birthdays). She speaks Dari but is otherwise illiterate.

 Over at least the past decade Feroz has heart issues and other medical ailments, but is not known to have any terminal conditions.

Rana is Feroz’s daughter, Ali’s wife, and Amir’s mother. She is pregnant and expecting a second son in late October or early November 2023. Rana was born in Afghanistan but grew up in Iran when the Taliban first took over. After they were displaced by NATO, her family moved back to Afghanistan in Kabul, where she completed high school.

 After high school she worked in the finance department off at a university in Kabul and was convinced to also attend the university from which she graduated. She and Ali got married, but shortly thereafter they fled to Mari Abad after her brother disappeared and presumably was murdered and Ali’s life was threatened.

 Rana worked in a shop in Mariabad until Amir was born, after which she became a housewife and mother. Rana has been mentored over the Internet by an American volunteer and is now passable in English.

Nasiba is the person on the top right of the picture above with Rana and Amir. She is the widow of Feroz’s son (Rana’s brother) and is the mother of Maisam and Maryam. She grew up in rural Afghanistan. She worked for many years in finance for a health-oriented NGO in Afghanistan. Nasiba’s husband was a craftsman who sewed pouches and purses for sale and disappeared on a trip to Herat to get more sewing supplies.

Rather than leave her alone with two children in Afghanistan where Hazaras were being target for killing, they joined Ali, Rana, and Feroz in fleeing from Kabul to Mari Abad. There she has been working in a women’s clothing store to help support the family.

 Nasiba is a loving mother, trying to protect her children. She has worked hard to guide them and they are growing up with good values. They are bright and caring.

 Nasiba has also been mentored in English and can communicate well.

Ali was the one who more than seven years ago requested a mentor over the Internet to help him learn English. Warren responded to the request and started weekly sessions with him while he, Rana, and Feroz lived in Kabul. At that time, he had enlisted in the Afghan Army and was finishing basic training. After Pashtun solders in his basic training unit said that they were going to kill him as soon as they were deployed, Ali left the army and took Rana, Feroz, plus Rana’s widowed sister-in-law and her to children across the border to the {Mari Abad} enclave in Quetta in tribal Baluchistan, Pakistan.

 Ali, like Rana spent his early childhood in Iran and went to school there until about the fifth grade, after which he worked in many different jobs seeking to help support his father and brother and after he got Rana and Feroz.

 While continuing his online learning Ali worked numerous jobs on a cash basis in Mari Abad to support his extended family (without a Pakistani ID card). For example, he sold bananas from a street cart, he turned on and off the water to give different sections of the enclave water for an hour a day, and he served as the security for a school.

 Throughout, Ali continued learning English has been mentored by Warren on a variety of other subjects over the years. It quickly became evident to Warren that despite Ali’s minimal formal education, he is quite smart and very hard working. He learned English rapidly and is now fluent speaking, reading, and writing.

 Living expenses continued to rise as Mari Abad received more and more immigrants. Ali’s earnings were not keeping up, putting great pressure on him. All were living in fear and discouraged but had no better place where they could go.

 Warren had no solution for them but didn’t want them to give up hope. He urged all in the family to learn English (and all but Feroz have).

 Given his fluency in Dari, Farsi, and English, and Internet access, Warren suggested that Ali try to learn enough computer programming to help build multi-lingual websites as a possible way to earn more money.

 Ali responded to the suggestion and taught himself many different programming languages. He started with only a Pakistani smartphone. Later, Warren was able to get him enough money to buy a used laptop to continue learning to code. There came a time when Ali thought that he could help build websites, but there was no market for such skills in Mari Abad.

A friend of a friend of Warren’s was willing to give him a try, a retired university professor in Utah leading a multi-university-based effort to build international websites to collect and present botanical information. Ali has succeeded beyond all expectations and is being paid more than he could hope to make selling bananas as a street vendor (It is a pittance compared to what such programming would cost in the US-not so much because the botanical team is taking advantage of him, rather because it has been impossible to get more money to them in Mari Abad with no one in the family having an ID to have a bank account or to receive money transfers—don’t ask).

The professors on the team developing of the international botanical websites team will attest to his abilities. The lead person who gave Ali the chance to prove himself is anxious to help him any way that she can. As she is a Canadian, she cannot be part of the Welcome Corps groups, but she will do whatever she can to get Ali a job that pays him appropriately---if he and his family can get out of Pakistan.

 Ali is upset with the conditions under which the family is living and feels a great responsibility to make things better. He is frustrated that he hasn’t seen an avenue to do so. However, he hasn’t given up hope and is working hard to learn and add to his abilities to maximizes their possibilities.

Maisam is the now 20-year-old son of Nasiba and grandson of Feroz. He is Maryam’s older brother. Ali says that he is “a tender hearted and sensitive boy.” He is a carrying, responsible young man.

Maisam graduated from high school 2-3 years ago and was recognized for his academic achievements. He would like to go to university but is unable to so because he doesn’t have a Pakistani ID card and has no money to afford to go.

 Warren has mentored Maisam for about the past five years. When they started, Maisam could not understand anything that Warren said. Now he is fluent in English. He is studying different topics online and writing about them in English as part of his weekly mentoring sessions.

 Maisam would like to be able to support his mother, sister, and a future family. However, there are virtually no job opportunities in Mari Abad and Nasiba forbids him from working in Quetta as she fears he will be killed. So, he is stuck.

 Maryam is a beautiful, gifted girl. She is being raised to be a loving wife and mother. However, she is also being raised to be much more.

Maryam is a beautiful, talented seventeen-year-old girl. She is gifted artist. Warren met her for the first time online when she was 11 years old and unable to speak English. Ali explained her on screen motions indicated that she wanted a picture of Warren, so he sent one. A couple of days later, Ali sent Warren an email with a pencil on paper drawing that Maryam had made of him. Those pictures and a more recent painting by Maryam of a fox are in the {overview} presentation. See above for another of her recent paintings.

 Maryam is also a gifted student. She has gone to co-ed primary and high schools that teach all the major subjects. She has been first or second in her class every year. She is a serious student. She will finish her last year in high school at the end of December 2023. Like her brother she has no opportunity for any further education, which she yearns to get, because she has no Pakistani ID and there is no money available to cover the costs.
Maryam is very special. What is her future? 

Amir is Ali’s and Rana’s son and Feroz’s third grandchild. He was born in Pakistan and has lived his whole life in Mariabad. He loved and has been well looked after by Rana, Ali, and Feroz.

 The family has been teaching some some English. In March 2023, Amir s started pre-school at the best one in Mari Abad. He loves it. The school teaches in Urdu (the official language of Pakistan) and some English. So, from an early age Amir is learning three languages.

 But what is his future, if he and his family are unable to emigrate to a country where they will be safe and earn a living?

 Future family member- Rana is pregnant. She and Ali recently learned that their future baby will be their second son. The baby is expected at the end of October or early November.

 What will his future be, if he and his family are unable to emigrate to a country where they will be safe and earn a living?