April 2022 Student Spotlight: Marzia Huma Faqiri
Marzia Huma Faqiri is from Afghanistan and immigrated to the United States five years ago. She lives in Rochester with her husband, two sons, and a daughter. Marzia plans to earn a degree in Business at MCC. In “A Reward for Sacrifice,” Marzia interviews her mother about the dangerous time when she and her husband decided to escape to Pakistan for the safety of their family.
A Reward for Sacrifice
“Safety isn’t expensive, it’s priceless.” This powerful sentence fits the decision my mom and dad made. My dad passed away in 2010 in Peshawar, Pakistan and my mom lives in Canada now. My mom is loving and caring with a strong and positive point of view. That is why our family loves and respects her. I used Messenger App to interview her, so at the same time, I could hear her and see her beautiful face through video chat.
While interviewing her for my assignment, I realized that behind this lovely smile lies a river of pain from the past. When I asked my mom about the saddest day in her life, she said, “The saddest, or I should say the hardest, time of my life was first when your dad was in jail, and the second one was when I left my home and my country.”
To answer my question about why she left Afghanistan, she answered, “Who wants to leave her complete and settled home and start life from zero again?” She became quiet for a while and then started to tell me that they had had a very happy life in Kabul, Afghanistan. However, after the Soviets came to Afghanistan, their lives became more difficult day by day. The Soviets and their supporters were bombing, killing, putting innocent people in jail, sending young boys from school to war, going to people’s houses at night and taking their money or gold, and even abusing girls. They took my 16-year-old brother from school and sent him to war in another province. Also, they put my dad in jail for almost two years without any proof of a crime, and they tortured him. They were very cruel and didn’t have fear of Allah. After getting released from jail, the Soviets were still following my dad. So, my parents decided to leave everything and move to Pakistan for the safety of their children.
I wanted to know more, so I started questioning her about the details because she had only briefly mentioned the difficulties they faced going to Pakistan to me before. She explained that in 1988, with the help of my dad's friend they were able to send their three young boys to Pakistan, and they arrived safely. Finally, they also left with me; however, they faced a lot of difficulties during the trip to Pakistan. The trip was very scary and hard. They couldn’t use the road; instead, they went by walking in the mountains and crossing rivers. The reason was that if the government caught anyone leaving Afghanistan, then that was their last day of freedom, or even their last day of life.
According to their plan, they left heading toward Logar province, and there, someone would be waiting to guide them to Pakistan. At check posts, my parents said that they were going to Logar province for a friend’s wedding, and they showed the check post police a wedding card and had some wedding clothes with them. When they arrived at Logar province, a boy was waiting for them. In the early morning hours, they began the 3 hour walk. It was a desolate path. In some parts, they used donkeys. After that, when they reached Khost province they used a truck and crossed an ice-covered river at midnight. The truck lights were off and they had fear of being caught by soldiers or falling in the river. My mother said, "Finally, with the Grace of Allah, we arrived in Para Chinar on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It seemed like a never-ending trip."
As she spoke, my mom became so sad. Her tears were falling like rain from her eyes, and she was feeling that pain again, so I decided to stop continuing this discussion. Most of the time people say that time heals our pain, but I believe even as time passes, the pain remains in our minds and hearts. With a little reminder, we see it becomes new again. We should say, it doesn’t heal, but we become used to it. My brave mom and dad chose our safety over everything. May Allah grant them rewards for their sacrifices.
ESOL Voices a collection of stories written by ESOL students at Monroe Community College. This publication highlights our MCC students who come from all over the world. Look for new stories in the Tribune. We hope you enjoy our students’ stories as much as we do.
Katie Leite & Pamela Fornieri, ESOL Program, April 2022