Afghan Refugee Talks to You

I know there is nobody

Out there

To understand

The painful miserable feelings of a homeless person

Who is about to die on the way towards peace 

Who is hungry for a smile

And love from other human beings

But almost all of them

Just come out of their homes

To put their harsh feet on his injured heart

And shower him with their nicest curses ever

What a cruel world

He was so naïve

when he first got out his home

and lost it forever

He thought we are all same human beings

Afghan Refugee

…………………………………..

What a crazy world is this?

It is not the promised heaven of human beings

It has turned into a real hell

When refugees come to our doors

We kill them

But we take guns and go

To save them

In their own hometown

Far from us in the other continent

That is what we’re doing

To all people of Afghanistan

Afghan Refugee

…………………………............

Who am I?

When I go to the Muslims,

They kill me because not being a Muslim

When I go to Christians,

They hate my Islamic name

Which was given by my parent,

When I go to Hindus,

I find that I am not a Hindu either,

I don’t belong to any religion

Or a nation anymore,

Maybe I am

One of the most universal human beings,

Of my own particular kind,

Which’s never existed before,

Free of any kind of prejudice and bias,

Strange and unfamiliar to others,

Loving others despite of their prejudice

While being hated the most

I stand only for humanity

And forget all other differences

Being tired of differences

That is what makes me different

From other hearts full of hatred

I don’t belong to any country,

I am just a wanderer 

Who would die

In search of a safe home

Afghan refugee 

Change for Discrimination تغیر برای تبعیض

Afghan refugee 1: Salaam, how are you? Long time ago! I met in last time around 15 years ago in Afghanistan and now in Europe! That Afghan proverb is so right which says “Aadami murgh bey baal ast” which means “Humans are birds without wings”. We flew due to the war all over the world in different continents and now I see in here in Europe.

Afghan refugee 2: Salaam, I am fine thanks. Yeah, it was really a long time ago. You have changed a lot. Even the color of your hairs and beard has changed, that time it was dark black if I remember correctly. There is also another proverb in Afghanistan “Kooh ba kooh manerasa, aadam ba aadam merasa” which means “a mountain cannot reach another mountain but human reaches another human”. Now we reach (meet) each other after that long time in Europe. I think you all left just in the right time when our village was burning in war, but we lived there after you guys left and we suffered a lot and we left the village when the war was almost over and then we got a chance to move out. Thank God that I see you are fine after there long years of war.

Afghan refugee 1: Yes, you are right. My hairs and beard were black but I have changed it here.

Afghan refugee 2: Why did you change the color? You were looking even nicer when your hairs were dark black.

Afghan refugee 1: Are you new in Europe?

Afghan refugee 2: Yes, only few months. 

Afghan refugee 1: Oh! I see. That is why you ask such questions. If you stay here for a longer period of time, then you will understand why I've changed the color of my hairs and my beard. It is because of discrimination.

Afghan refugee 2: What? What is the relationship between discrimination and the color of your hairs?

Afghan refugee 1: Well, when I came here first, I was facing different kinds of discrimination here. I found out what was different in my style than other European boys, and then I realized that most of the Afghan boys are changing the color of their hairs and beards and they make it look blonde and they even change the color of their eyes by putting on lenses. I tried them and it helped. Then we went on to put some tattoos on my arms, some rings on my ears and nose and also on my eyeborws and a necklace of cross and even I started using the word "Jesus" or even “Jesus the Christ” after every ten to twenty sentences. I have also changed my name to Albert so that people would not react to my name as they were doing before. You know that well that in Afghnistan we don't discriminate people based on their names. There are thousands of families there who have Christian names in Afghanistan such as Eesa (Jesus), Maseeh (Christ), Zakaria (uncle of Mary), Maryam (Mary the mother of Jesus) and many others ... but now here they like only those Christain names and I had to change my name. It really helped me get rid of many different sorts of racial and religious discriminations. Even the police now do not stop me in the airports anymore to look for my luggage and for my pockets. If you are going to get rid of such kind of discriminations, you better try these things. And you should never say that you come from Afghanistan and also because you can speak English very well, you better say that you come from the States, and then you will see those behavioral changes in people and how they become nice and kind to you.

Afghan refugee 2: Thanks for the advice. I will try and I will see.