摄影:Caitlin Cunningham
电子游戏软件 School of Social Work part-time faculty member Maryanne Loughry, R.S.M., was teaching a course on migration and social policy in Washington, D.C. on August 15 when the news broke: after months of escalating violence, 塔利班已经控制了喀布尔, marking the official collapse of the Afghan government and erasing 20 years of social and economic progress in the war-torn country.
几乎立即, scenes of chaos and desperation were broadcast from the Kabul airport as Afghan citizens risked their lives to flee the country. 在接下来的日子里, 成千上万的人, 女性, 儿童登上飞往美国各地军事基地的飞机.S., 包括威斯康辛州的麦考伊空军基地, 劳瑞在那里加入了一个由美国政府组建的紧急小组.S. 天主教主教移民和难民服务处.
“这实际上是人道主义紧急情况,劳丽修女回忆道, who was recruited to volunteer because of her background working with refugees. “我们不知道有多少人来了，也不知道他们是谁. 当我到达时, 那天，第一批800人来到了基地, 等我离开的时候, 有13个,000.”
三个星期, 劳丽修女在基地里经营着一个士气和健康中心, 妇女和儿童可以安全地聚集和玩耍的地方. She and the other volunteers distributed donated clothing and supplies—many refugees had arrived with only the clothing on their backs—and offered legal assistance, but the needs of the population quickly exceeded their limited resources.
“这对人们来说是一段非常艰难的时期，”劳丽修女说. “Many adults were overwhelmed, first by having survived and then by the system—What do I do now? 我要在这里待多久?”
当劳丽修女在地上工作时, 她在山庄的同事, 由负责全球参与的副教务长詹姆斯·基南领导, S.J.我们正在讨论另一种协助方式. 为了在美国建立新的生活.S., a majority of the Afghan refugees would need to secure employment. They wondered: would someone with an academic or humanitarian background be interested in working at 电子游戏软件?
通过她的联系人, Sister Loughry learned that a young Afghan man named Farhad Sharifi was staying at Camp Atterbury in Indiana, 距离麦科伊堡只有7小时的路程. Sharifi was fluent in English and had a master’s degree in social work from St. 印度班加罗尔的约瑟夫学院. 在他撤离之前, he worked for an international non-governmental organization supporting the education of girls in Afghanistan. 劳丽修女安排和他谈话.
“背井离乡和背叛”
当他第一次收到拉夫丽修女的信时, Sharifi was in the midst of navigating one of the most difficult transitions of his life. 33岁, he had been living in the city of Herat with his parents and younger brother before the government collapsed, 与国内流离失所者一起提供教育, 当地的领导, 能力建设项目. 他的工作职责包括在偏远的村庄进行田间工作, 在那里他冒着被塔利班绑架和暴力袭击的危险.
“I had times when I needed to look over my shoulder to see if someone was following me,” he recalled.
担心迫害, 沙里菲和他的同事们在赫拉特沦陷的前一天离开了这座城市, and were among the thousands standing outside the Kabul airport in the days following the August 15 takeover. Sharifi slept on the pavement outside the airport gates for several nights, awakening frequently to the sound of gunshots being fired into the air by Taliban guards. 8月23日, he was granted access to the airport and boarded a plane bound for the United Arab Emirates. On September 11, he arrived at Camp Atterbury, where he would live for the next three months.
回顾, 沙里菲认为他别无选择，只能离开阿富汗, 这一事实对他影响很大.
“When you don’t have any control over what’s happening in your life, 总是很有压力,他说. “Like many other evacuees, I feel uprooted, betrayed, and oppressed all at the same time. 我们在阿富汗社区, 尤其是年轻人和新一代, 感觉我们被抛回了100多年前, like everything that was meaningful has been lost and what remains is only hope for many of us.”
开始新生活
在他们第一次通话后的一个月, 劳瑞修女和沙里菲每天都通过电话交谈, 制定计划把沙里菲带到不列颠哥伦比亚省. School of Social Work Dean Gautam Yadama had offered Sharifi a position in the 儿童与逆境电子游戏正规平台项目，但还有其他细节需要考虑.
“There was the job but also the logistics of housing and clothing and food and donations,劳丽修女说. “I was immensely supported by the BC system—everybody played a role once I pulled them in. People were constantly ringing me up saying, ‘I can do this,’ or ‘We can do that.’”
St. 栗山的依纳爵教区也提供了广泛的支持, stepping in to coordinate donations of necessities for Sharifi through its longstanding ARRUPE program (Assisting Resettlement of Refugees Using Parish Energies). 工作人员 and parish volunteers worked to arrange coverage for Sharifi's rent and utility payments and provide food cards until his first paycheck arrived.
On December 3, Sister Loughry and a host family from Chestnut Hill met Sharifi at Logan Airport. He was carrying a single backpack of possessions, ready to start a new life.
“我永远不会忘记那一刻，”劳丽修女说. “他信任我们，让我们登上那架飞机来到波士顿. That would have overwhelmed anybody, I think, but he was able to do it.”
Since arriving at BC, Sharifi has thrown himself into his work as a way to keep his mind busy. 在新的职位上, he’s helping to adapt programs designed for specific refugee populations so they can be used to help Afghan refugees.
“It’s similar to my job in Afghanistan in that I’m in the social work realm and I’m getting to work with families and communities,他说. “我学到了很多东西.”
工作之外的事, Sharifi hopes he can be a resource to members of the wider BC community interested in hearing his story and learning about the political and cultural landscape of Afghanistan. 2月2日，他将与劳瑞修女和神父会合. Keenan for his first public 事件: “On Refugee Work and Afghanistan: An interview with Farhad Sharifi.(BC社区的成员可以参加 事件 亲自或通过Zoom.)
Becoming a refugee himself has given Sharifi a deeper understanding of the experiences of other displaced people, and made him even more determined to work to ensure that all humans are free from oppression. While he misses his family back home, he remains hopeful for the future, at BC and beyond.
“有时, when my Afghan colleagues and friends text me about the situation [at home] and the imposed limitations on the already limited freedom they had, 我感到麻木,他说. “But what I’m certain about is that hardship has made us stronger and more resilient to our environment. We will rise again and prosper and do our part to make this world a better place.”
Alix Hackett | University Communications / 2022年1月
法哈德·沙里菲在他到达波士顿的那天，在圣. 依纳爵教区办公室.