In Their Shoes

Aaban - Afghanistan

I was born far away from my home because of conflict. My first five years were spent moving from place to place and sleeping wherever my mother stopped. We were displaced by the war and eventually had made it to safety in Pakistan.

I didn't know that Pakistan was a different country, I thought we were all Afghanistan.

When I was 12 we returned to our homeland. It was still dangerous but for the most part, it was a distant danger. However, my mother could not relax here. She said that she was scared of everyone. Scared of the soldiers, the government, and the local tribal leaders. She was scared that the Taliban would come back and would stop me from living my happy life.

She decided that we would leave. She had a cousin in Turkey and she said we would go to her. I didn't know where Turkey was, but I knew my mother would keep us safe.

We had to walk for many miles and sometimes we would sit in the back of a truck for miles. My mother told me to always be polite to people, even if they were not polite to me.

I remember one night, in particular, we had been walking for many days and I was complaining that my feet hurt. My mother told me to sit down and be still. She sat next to me and took my hand. She told me to look up, to look at the stars. She said that every star was a guiding light of love to take us to a place where our feet would never hurt again. I believed her.

We were lucky. We were met by some people who were helping people like us to get to safety. It had taken us 3 months, but the final part of the journey was in the comfort of a car. I remember thinking, as we arrived in Turkey, that the journey was over for us and I remembered thinking that my feet didn't hurt anymore, just like my mother had said.

It isn't easy to be a refugee, but it is very wonderful to feel safe, and that stops your feet from hurting. I know that now.