Marwa Rahim started the day preoccupied with one thing very totally different than battle. She had purchased a brand new pink-and-white costume for the return of in-person medical college, and it wanted to be pressed. Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, had dependable energy solely in the course of the night time, so she set her alarm for two a.m., ironed her costume and went again to mattress.
When she awoke at 7 a.m., she noticed the textual content from a good friend: The Taliban have been advancing, quick. Marwa placed on her costume anyway, hoping she would possibly nonetheless make it to class.
Chaos got here as a substitute. Kabul fell with a velocity that shocked the world, forcing Marwa and her household to make a split-second choice. As a result of her brother, Najim, is a reporter for The New York Occasions, all of them doubtlessly confronted the specter of Taliban reprisals. In order that they raced to the airport within the hope of getting one of many final flights in a foreign country.
Greater than 120 folks — current and former staff of The Occasions’s Kabul bureau over the 20 years of the American occupation, and their households — made the identical selection when the Taliban took over final August, speeding to the airport to flee. As soon as there, Taliban fighters beat them with rifle butts and golf equipment, as the boys within the group shaped a circle to guard the ladies and youngsters. Marwa and the others narrowly made it in a foreign country days later.
All through all of it, Marwa wore her new costume, which ended up in tatters.
“I nonetheless have that costume. I’ll by no means throw that away,” she recalled from her new residence in Houston. “The one factor that I carried with me is my backpack, for my total life, just one backpack. I simply left every thing,” she stated, together with the stethoscope her father had purchased her to encourage her to grow to be a health care provider.
A 12 months after the autumn of Kabul, the velocity that their metropolis, their nation and their lives collapsed stuns even essentially the most lucky Afghans. Marwa, 22, was a part of a bunch The Occasions evacuated to Doha, Qatar, after which to Mexico Metropolis, the place the Mexican authorities offered refuge for lots of of fleeing journalists and help employees. Lastly, the group was accepted into the US and went to Texas, becoming a member of one of many largest waves of immigration to America for the reason that Vietnam Warfare.
I used to be a part of The Occasions staff that helped with the group’s evacuation and resettlement. In complete, we evacuated greater than 200 folks from Kabul, with the rest accepted in Canada by a referral program run by the U.S. State Division.
Adjusting to life as a refugee has meant beginning over in a brand new language that has rendered many prior abilities — and infrequently, levels — virtually moot. It has additionally been an excellent equalizer, leveling hierarchies that after divided the group between the Afghan journalists and the drivers, gardeners and cooks who labored alongside them. And it has profoundly modified the roles of women and men.
One of many best legacies of the American occupation of Afghanistan was expanded entry to schooling for ladies and ladies. These positive factors have been laborious fought, particularly as some members of the family resisted and the battle interrupted their research. However Marwa, her sisters and numerous different Afghan girls grew to become or educated to be docs, legal professionals, ministers and journalists. The sudden evacuation upended all of it.
Initially, the ladies in our group have been virtually invisible. Fatima Faizi, a journalist who had lengthy refused to simply accept Afghan societal norms, was a notable exception. However most of the different girls barely left their lodge rooms in Mexico Metropolis and Houston, whereas the boys assembled for conferences about subsequent steps. Few of the ladies spoke English. After I went alongside to assist the group discover flats in Houston after they have been initially rejected (for lack of three months of pay stubs), solely the boys got here alongside.
“We have been simply within the lodge, sitting in rooms. We didn’t do something with out my brother, like in Afghanistan,” stated Mursal Rahim, Marwa’s sister, who had fought many obstacles to finish regulation college in Kabul. “It took time to say, ‘OK, I’ll do that. I’ll do that, not my brother.’ Day-to-day, I spotted I’ve the liberty right here.”
Ultimately, many within the group settled into an condo advanced in Houston, which has a historical past of welcoming refugees. Catholic Charities, a reduction company, agreed to maintain them collectively. Many hadn’t identified each other earlier than their escape. However the girls met within the courtyard each night time, sharing details about what was taking place again residence, as among the worst fears of Taliban management got here true.
Little by little, the ladies have emerged. The preliminary shock of the evacuation has became a resolve to benefit from a freedom they by no means felt in Afghanistan. (Snapshots from faculty essays that Mursal, Marwa and different members of The Occasions group wrote are included under).
Mursal is carrying hijabs filled with coloration, as a substitute of the black that some insisted upon again residence. The ladies are rising accustomed to carrying no matter they need, and going the place they please. Even amongst these not attempting to go to varsity, the ambition is palpable. At a latest assembly, each lady raised her hand when requested who wished to work. Attendance at an English class on the condo advanced is sort of one hundred pc, together with some girls who have been by no means taught to learn.
Mursal, 26, is decided to return to school so she will be able to grow to be a lawyer right here. That has been her ambition since she was a youngster, when she noticed girls who have been unable to get divorces or any illustration within the authorized system.
“We are going to examine. It doesn’t matter how lengthy it would take or how laborious it is going to be,” stated Mursal, whose mom, Gulalai, was a longtime advocate for schooling in rural Afghanistan. Mursal and Marwa’s oldest sister, Malalai, earned an M.B.A. in India.
However now they’re all beginning over as a result of their Afghan credit, and even levels, usually are not simply transferred, and in uncooked moments, Gulalai cries when she thinks about her life’s work being extinguished by the Taliban.
Ian Bickford, president of the American College of Afghanistan, stated the dedication of the Afghan girls within the group was no shock.
“The youthful era of Afghan girls are essentially the most bold and engaged cohort of scholars I’ve ever labored with, in any nation at any time,” stated Mr. Bickford, who’s working to open a brand new campus in Qatar, and has labored carefully with Bard Faculty, which is supporting virtually 100 Afghan refugees. Mr. Bickford’s college can also be working to arrange distant schooling for lots of of girls nonetheless in Afghanistan. “They grew up with an concept that they refuse to surrender on, which is that they’ve company and deserve equal alternative and schooling.”
Samira Rustami, 20, grew up in a house the place schooling was so discouraged that her mom usually tried to destroy her books. Samira ultimately discovered on Fb a few cultural change program in India that supplied a full scholarship and obtained one.
She returned residence after three years and was searching for a job when Kabul fell. With fluent English, she now needs to grow to be a nurse. She just lately had a child, however is undeterred.
“For me, being within the U.S. is an enormous alternative,” Samira stated. “Everyone seems to be free. We will do no matter we would like. Even my mom, she can’t cease me anymore.”
The struggles are many, for each women and men. Admitted underneath a program referred to as humanitarian parole, the households spent months ready for the paperwork that entitles them to advantages and the flexibility to work and earn cash. They now have to use for asylum, which isn’t assured. The guilt, over leaving family members behind and whether or not they made the appropriate choice to come back, nags. Quite a lot of the youngsters present indicators of trauma from the evacuation.
What occurs subsequent is way from apparent. Lots of the males went to work at Amazon warehouses, the place they have been placed on in a single day shifts that lasted 13 hours, from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some dropped out. Others have taken checks to grow to be truckers. One of many bureau’s former cooks obtained a job at a stylish Houston restaurant, however the bus journey is an hour every approach. He’s attempting to be taught to drive and just lately obtained a automotive donated by a Texas charity.
Lots of the youthful individuals are making use of to high schools. However getting admitted to a college has not been simple; their English isn’t sturdy sufficient and plenty of schools have been unwilling to waive their necessities for full proficiency. Scholarship cash is scant and it’s unclear how they will afford the prices in the event that they do get in. Some within the group have acquired constructive information in latest days, however many particulars stay to be labored out.
Lynette Clemetson, director of the Wallace Home for Journalists on the College of Michigan, pushed laborious to get the college to help two Afghan journalists, and their households, with housing and intensive English.
“My place has been, you don’t begin by asking, however by saying, this needs to be executed,” stated Ms. Clemetson, including that the U.S. has a particular obligation to the Afghans who grew up throughout 20 years underneath the occupation.
Omar Ahmadi, 26, has been searching for a school. He and his two brothers, Bilal and Yalda, appreciated working at Amazon, however they needed to go away just lately as a result of their father, a longtime chef of the Kabul bureau, wished to maneuver to Virginia to be with household there. The brothers, who all graduated from faculty in Afghanistan, agreed that solely considered one of them might proceed their schooling full time as a result of the opposite two would wish to work to help the household.
Marwa, the medical pupil, is now working at The Hole at a Houston mall. Speaking with a buyer just lately, Marwa defined that she was a refugee from Afghanistan. The shopper exclaimed that she, too, was a refugee — from Ukraine. The 2 girls started crying collectively.
“We have been on the identical web page,” Marwa stated. “I stated, ‘I actually regret Ukraine.’ She stated, ‘I actually really feel sorry for Afghanistan.’”
Marwa stated her mates in Afghanistan are amazed that she is allowed to work at a Hole, as girls usually are not allowed to be shopkeepers there.
“I need to return as a result of I don’t need to go away the ladies in Afghanistan alone,” Marwa stated. “They want somebody to encourage and help them, and present them that they don’t seem to be alone.”
Reporting was contributed by Steven McElroy, Anna Nordeen and Victoria Dryfoos.
Supply: NY Times