Samman Akbarzada is a 22-year-old college student, majoring in English and political science. She grew up in Afghanistan, but her life there was in danger when U.S. soldiers abruptly left the country.
“I had published a book that went against the Taliban, and I only had five hours to pack my entire life in a backpack and leave," she recalls. "To me Taliban were a story --- a horror story that I used to listen to from my parents, never knowing that one day they will come. I thought we were like the new generation – the young generation who will change the narrative of our stories and never go back to the dark history, but unfortunately the day it got published coincided with the fall of Afghanistan.”
She escaped to Rwanda with her mother, a sister and two brothers. Her father was left behind – in hiding, and it turned out her mother was very sick.
“My mother got diagnosed with cancer, and I was hopelessly searching for countries that would give me the visa so we could take her there, because Rwanda didn’t treat her. They couldn’t,” she explains.
But after nine months, they were able to leave.
“We got lucky for everything to get processed and come to the U.S., but unfortunately, three months after my arrival here I lost my mother. At least it brings me some peace to know that she got the care that she needed. At least we were together. I cannot reunite with my mother again, but I will do anything to advocate for families who have that opportunity, because people who leave their homes – they have suffered enough.”
Today, her father has joined Samman in Charlottesville, and she attends UVA -–hoping someday to go to law school. She spends her spare time helping refugees like Jay, a man who asked that we note use his full name. He worked as a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan and was able to come here in 2014. Now, he works as a security guard – supporting a wife and three kids, but his father and two siblings remain in Afghanistan.
"My dad was a lieutenant colonel in the Afghan army," Jay says. "He was a previous government official, so his life is already at risk. He keeps changing his home just try to find a safe place."
His brother and sister are also in hiding – desperate for a new life.
"The Afghan government, they shut the schools, universities, and I feel bad for them. Right now there are no jobs, so I’m the one who supports myself here and support them also."
He was expecting that his relatives would get special visas from the U.S. government until they learned the Trump Administration had put a stop to the program. Kristen Clarens is an attorney with the Charlottesville Bar Association – one of several helping those who are hoping for a reunion with relatives left behind.
“Folks in the Afghan community should not be processed like refugees," she contends. "Their family members who are left behind have already been vetted and are actually at risk because of U.S. forces’ presence in Afghanistan – because of the Taliban -- and have kind of gotten wrapped-up in a sweeping series of executive orders that don’t really address their situations.”
Tomorrow, they plan to meet with Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and with members of Congress: John McGuire, Jennifer McClellan and Don Beyer to talk about how they can win an exception from the executive order keeping their kin out. Virginia has the third largest number of Afghan refugees, behind California and Texas.
