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1: Community Based Learning: Interview
Sultana Khalil, born and raised in Afghanistan had to immigrate with as many as 6-million other people from the country who were driven in search of safety, mainly to the neighboring countries of Iran and Pakistan due to the growing war in Afghanistan in 1996. Her and her family resided in Quetta, Pakistan but were constantly on the move from one part of the city to the next because someone had threatened to kill her father because he was considered a traitor of his country for fleeing. Her family wasn't the only ones who had to go through such hardships of leaving their home country. Thousands of children have been made orphans by the conflict in Afghanistan and many have suffered emotional trauma after being separated from their parents during their displacement and flight. The Talebans rule was breaking people apart, in September 1996, around 50,000 people had fled the city of Kabul, and those who left were educated people and members of minority ethnic groups, those who stayed were afraid that the Taliban will punish them if they were caught trying to escape.
Just as with Sultana's family, many Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran have endured hardships and they have struggled to meet their basic living needs. Sultana and her family stayed in Pakistan for two years and filed for Political Asylum in the United States. Her family had to pay for medical check-ups and the tickets to come to the U.S. but if one couldn't afford it, the government would pay for the entire trip but they would eventually have to pay the govt. back. Six months later Sultana and her family arrived in New York as resident aliens, from there they were sent to Michigan. Every person that enters the U.S. as a refugee resides in the state of the governments choosing.
A year ago she moved to reside in Oregon. They were complete strangers in this country, and at first had a hard time adjusting to the changes, but are happy that they don't have to worry about their fathers life being in danger now. Not only that, they are learning what the ''land of opportunity'' is all about. Personally, she has not experienced any discrimination since she has come to the U.S. but does feel that she gets 'the look' from people after 9-11. Post September 11, she and her family saw how their fellow Afghans and other Muslims were being treated, so they decided to move to Canada.
Before making the move final, they paid a visit to a relative residing in Vancouver BC. "The trip was horrible, we were held up at the border for no particular reason," said Sultana, this made them continue there stay here. Although she has no regrets about immigrating to America, she does hope that a good education would lead to a better life and one day when she returns to Afghanistan, she will be able to educate her people.
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