A letter from a 15 year old Afghan refugee in Europe to his mother in Afghanistan:
Dear Mother,
I hope this
letter finds you in the best of health. I am writing this letter from a refugee
camp in one of the European countries. I am still alive. I am trying my best to
be fine. I think this would be the last letter I send you before I get killed
by these racist people. I am living in a very bad situation here. I was so
naïve before coming to Europe. It was the most stupid decision to come to
Europe and think that these people will protect and save us. We were 14 when we
left Afghanistan and now all 13 friends of mine were murdered on the way to
Europe in different countries and I am the last one.
We always
thought that Europeans might be kind and friendly like our people and we can
ask them to help us all the time, but these were all wrong assumptions. Here I
see that they kill almost every Afghan refugee. They even closed their borders
only for the people of Afghanistan. I see Afghan men; women and even children
die almost every day. They die because of different reasons. Some because of
poisonous food, some because of cruel smugglers, some because of cruel police
and some others because of the racist local people who intervene their health
and create health problems for them.
I thought I
would be able to help you and my brothers and sisters when I get here but now I
know that it is almost impossible. I don’t have the right to work here and earn
money. The Europeans are not as good as they look for the people of
Afghanistan. They are really bad people. I did not know that before but now I
know them all. Please don’t let them come around our house in Afghanistan,
because they are very dangerous people and they think that all the people of
Afghanistan are their enemies and they will harm you. When you see them in our
village, please stay away and try to keep our family as far as possible.
In this refugee
camp they did an operation on many of Afghan refugees and placed some heavy
metals inside their belly and they think they will die very soon. They next
they it is my turn to go to the doctor for a surgery and I think they will do
the same thing to me too. Pray for me. We can’t escape and we can’t come back.
Being a refugee in Europe is like travelling in the dark jungle and don’t know
from which side a monster or a wild animal attack you and kill you.
They put us in
the prison in Italy and the police asked us to hit each other and they did lots
of wrong things to us that I can’t explain. They took our mobile phones and
some money. I have been to many prisons in different European countries,
hungry, thirsty and very dirty without access to toilets and bathrooms.
You know mom, I
was not religious at all when I was at home. Here they blame us for being
Taliban, terrorist and extremists. Now I pray 5 times a day and I ask help only
from God because he is the only one who can help me in this bad situation. That
is the only think I have now, my God. I did not know that being a Muslim would
create all these problems for me. Here these people around us all are against
Muslims and they invite us to change our religion and become Christians. Some
people change their religion and they think that is the only way to save their
lives, but I am now proud to be a Muslim and I promise mom, that I love you and
will die in the religion and good lessons that you gave me. When the boys
change their religion, they give them new Christians names too, but I love to
die with the name you gave me mom and I like it very much. I wish my father was
around to help you when I am not around mom, may his soul rest in peace, his
soul will also be happy if I maintain my name and my religion.
My dear lovely
mother! I am sending you some of my latest photo so that you can see how much
have I changed so far.
I almost forgot
to tell you mom, I passed so many difficulties and every moment on the way was
a life threat. I was inside a container and there was no oxygen to breath. I
was inside a small boat in the sea and the storm destroyed it and we were about
to drown in the water. So many of my friends died in these difficulties and we
buried them on the way. Some of them had contacts of their families and we
informed them, but some of them did even have a number to call and no one know
when they died and where they are buried.
I thought when
we get into a European country, the life threats will end and I will begin and
new life, but that is not true, almost every minute I get a new life threat
from these people. They have made a system for refugees which will lead all
Afghan refugees into insult, torture, mistreatment, misbehaving, health
problems and finally to a sad death. I can’t escape it. Before I believe in
destiny and I thought that everything that happens, happens for a reason and
everything is destined by God, but now I know that God has nothing to do with
the stupidities of human beings and I don’t want to blame God for what these
people do to me.
My friends
cannot walk after they had operations which plated something inside their
bellies to kill them gradually and, I think after a week, I will be the same. I
won’t be able to walk. These people don’t stop trying to kill Afghan refugees
and I hope they will succeed to kill me too because I want to end this
miserable life of mine and tried many times but I could not kill myself. I have
depression and stress in every moment. It is a strange thing to wish to die,
but I do wish to die mom, I am sorry to tell you this mom. I don’t want to make
you feel sad and don’t want to make you feel bad. If you were here, you would
have wished the same thing too.
When I was in
Afghanistan, I thought that Europe was a good place and everybody was well
educated and everyone was brought up in peace and I thought they might have had
the chance to develop the human ideas positive ways. I always thought that the
people in Europe might have respect for Human Rights but now I see that the
development is only in construction and buildings and outlook of the cities,
but the ideas of the young generation and the people of Europe is the same
backward anti-human being and have developed in the wrong ways. Their ideas
have developed more in the xenophobic, islamophobic and racism directions. They
kill Afghan refugees the same way they killed Jews back in the history.
All the problems
begin with the fact that we don’t have the right information and we come to
reach into a heaven to save our lives, but we end up in the hell.
The problem
begins with the fact that we don’t have electricity and TVs in our village and
that makes our people blind. We don’t know what happens here and if I knew that
these people will kill me, I would have never come to Europe.
We don’t get the
right and true information when we live in Afghanistan about the situation here
in Europe. We only see some nice films about Europe in a TVs and CD players
which runs with the generator only when we have some money to buy fuel for that
electricity generator.
I’m so sorry
mother, because I don’t have money to send you. I know that you might think I
am not the same responsible boy for my brothers and sisters, but the truth is
that I am the same responsible boy but the situation here is really bad. There
in Afghanistan I had the right to work and earn some money but here I don’t.
The things that
you see and hear about Europe, whether on the TV or in those nice photos of the
parks sent by some relatives, do not show the real picture of Europe.
The ugly truth
is that European people hate Muslims and they kill all of us whether we are
inside Afghanistan or we escape and come in Europe.
My dear mom,
would you please mind reading this letter to all other mothers in that village
when you come together so that they can get to know the situation here and that
they should not allow their sons to come to Europe because a certain death is
awaiting for them here in Europe.
Love you mom,
Your son,
Mahmood
