Shugofa Wahihi, refugee from Afghanistan, cross cultural worker, speaking five languages, for Palmerston North Red Cross.
Shugofa Wahihi, refugee from Afghanistan, cross cultural worker, speaking five languages, for Palmerston North Red Cross.
Being uprooted through war and losing contact with close family members as a result makes lives even harder for refugees. If at all, it can take a long time for them to reconnect. An Afghan woman now living in New Zealand has experienced that pain and uncertainty, but was luckyto trace her own parents and siblings, though the fate of her husband remains unknown. Editor Janine Baalbergen talks to her as part of the Horowhenua Chronicle's series of articles on refugees.
"Until the Taliban came I had a normal life."
That's Shugofa Wahidi. Her mother was a teacher, her dad an agricultural officer and she happily lived in Northern Afghanistan with her parents, six brothers and one sister.
"My life wasn't any different from that of any Kiwi family."
Her parents came from the north of the country but lived in Kabul for a while, where Shugofa was born.
She reckoned she was about five when they moved back to their home city.
She was 12 when the Taliban came in from the south. As a result her mother lost her job and all schools were closed.
"There was no more work for my dad either. Fighting, shooting and killing happened everywhere. Everything collapsed. No one is safe in a country where there is war."
It did not take her father long to decide to move his family to Pakistan.
"That was not an easy life for us. We struggled to find food and it wasn't our home."
The locals also did not seem to like refugees much, she said.
In 2004 she married and moved to Saudi Arabia with her husband, but lost contact with her own family soon after.
"I spent seven very happy years in Saudi Arabia and had three children, but [then] my husband decided to send me back to Pakistan to live with his parents. That was the last time I saw my husband and I have had no news from or about him since."
She made a lot of friends though and someone put her in touch with UNHCR - the UN Refugee Agency - and others helped her get jobs.
"I cooked, I cleaned, I sewed, just to feed my kids."
Eventually the UNHCR accepted her and her children as refugees and they were able to apply to come to New Zealand, but she still had no word from her family.
Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo / File
She arrived here in 2015 and in 2016 asked the Red Cross to trace her family and found that the 10 members of her family were spread across five countries. Her parents were in Finland, two brothers were in Norway and she had two brothers in Germany and one in Turkey.
Once established here she was able to sponsor one of her brothers and his family to come to New Zealand.
"My youngest was six when we came here and I had an 8-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl."
She's found home and a caring community in Palmerston North and a job at the Red Cross, helping other refugees.
Afghanistan's Bamyan River Valley. Photo / File
"I knew a bit of English and had done some ESOL classes. I started here as a volunteer."
Now she is a cross-cultural worker who meets all the newcomers. She speaks five languages.
"My kids speak perfect English and we are all very happy to be in New Zealand. We are very grateful. New Zealand has done a lot for us."
After 14 years of separation she was able to visit her parents last year. Her children play sports and she said that knowing their mother is finally happy, they are happy too. And that is most important to her.
Levin will be one of a number of regional centres to house refugees from next year. In this series the Horowhenua Chronicle looks at what creates refugees and what happens to them on the journey to New Zealand. We investigate how refugees are prepared for life in our country and what our local community can do to help these people find a safe, new place they can call home. This article is the fourth in the series.
