|
And grateful for help from “Andrew”* (see “Just
love them”), a Southern Baptist missionary who provides many
refugees in the area with practical assistance and friendship.
“Andrew every time helps us,” she says.
She welcomes visitors with a bright smile to her crowded room, where
her youngest child (a 9-month-old boy) lies sleeping on one of the narrow
beds lining the walls. A 4-year-old daughter plays nearby. Shanaz cooks
lunch on a hot plate while waiting for her older children to return from
school.
Her cheer clouds over when she’s asked about her family back in
Afghanistan. Her parents, brothers and sisters remain in Kabul, the capital,
as well as her husband—if he’s still alive.
“My husband doesn’t know we are here,” she says. “I
don’t know where is my husband.”
A medical doctor, he was arrested for the “crime” of treating
a sick woman—an interaction strictly forbidden by the Taliban. He
hasn’t been seen since. Shanaz apologizes for the tears that well
in her eyes.
Now 35, Shanaz once studied law—before Afghan women were barred
from education, outside employment or any other public role. Exiled in
her home, she became increasingly desperate as lawlessness increased,
food disappeared—and the roads of the capital began to smell of unburied
corpses in the gutters.
A month after her husband’s arrest, she escaped the country with
her children.
The Taliban are on the run now. But Shanaz also fears the other contending
factions in Afghanistan’s violent cauldron. “I will go back
when there is no fighting,” she declares.
Until then, she asks her new Christian friends, “Please pray for
me, my husband and my family.”
Her older children arrive back at the refugee center from classes, including
12-year-old daughter “Lima,”* who has never attended school
until now. Her long black hair gleams, and her eyes shine.
“We like it here,” Lima declares, speaking for her brothers
and sisters. Why? “Because it’s not dangerous. And I like school
very much!”
Her mother beams with pride. “The teacher says I have very intelligent
children,” she confides.
Then she returns to cooking.
—Erich Bridges
*Actual names and locations not used for security reasons
|
