“I find it hard to believe I’m safe”: the story of the Afghan teacher who managed to take refuge in Chile

After 14 years of separation, Afghan teacher Zainab Momeny met her sister Zahra in Chile this Friday, where she arrived as a refugee after fleeing her country when the taliban took power.

“She is very happy, she says: “I still find it hard to believe that I am safe here” [en Chile], and feels that she can finally sleep peacefully without worry “said Zahra Habibi, a medical student at the University of Chile, who translated her sister’s statements at a press conference upon her arrival at Santiago airport.

Zainab “is the first Afghan person we have welcomed”, said Carolina Valdivia, Chilean Under-Secretary for External Relations, who also greeted him at the airport.

This A 33-year-old teacher who lived in Kabul took refuge in Chile after her sister Zahra, who has lived in the South American country since 2008, appealed to the government in Santiago for help.

In a moving account, Zainab commented that To leave Afghanistan, she first had to go into hiding with another family at a friend’s house, because by the Taliban’s strict moral standards, she feared for her life as a wife, university professor and divorcee.. Later he was able to travel to neighboring Pakistan.

“The situation of women is very limited, this is summarized in the four walls of the house, women are not allowed to go to higher education, they are not allowed to work, they only allow until the sixth yearZainab explained, according to his sister’s translation.

“It’s a supercritical situation, women have made their situation much more fragile, more than it was before, by being repressed with lashes and beatings. There are women detained and they don’t know where they are“, He added.

Zainab managed to board a plane bound for Pakistan, where he received assistance from Leopoldo Sahores, the Argentine ambassador to that country, who handed him the safe-conducts Chile gave him. granted to continue his journey. After that, he flew to Dubai, Paris and finally Santiago.

“I was hoping to find her alive, but something in me always said ‘what if that doesn’t happen?’ I hadn’t seen her for 14 years, so I see her more emaciated, a little older than the two of us before, and she says, “I’ve been through the war, what more do you want from me?”, Zahra Habibi recounted.

Now Zainab must comply with a seven-day preventive quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will be held with a friend of his sister. You will then explore the options for studying in Chile or in another country.

“For safety reasons, I don’t want to lie down most of the time. She (Zainab Momeny) he left Afghanistan and is in a neighboring country and we are doing everything we can to ensure that this person can come to Chile “Foreign Minister Andrés Allamand said at the end of August.

This case became known in Chile after Zahar Habibi asked for help via social media to get his family and especially Zainab out of Afghanistan, a university professor who was in Kabul.

Chile has already issued 20 safe-conducts to receive Afghan citizens. Some are in Pakistan and others in Iran.

The Chilean government has explained that it does not have the means to get people out of Afghanistan, but that it can provide the safe driving and documents that allow the movement of refugees.

He is the first Afghan person to receive shelter in Chile out of the total around 300 people who will arrive, as reported by the government, based on a list compiled by the Afghan community in the country which includes the families of 10 women human rights defenders.

“We organize all the procedures for them to arrive. We believe they will arrive as a group, but there is no date as there are some without current passports, or they do not have travel documents that allow them to board airlines and there are in different countries, some in Iran and others in Pakistan “, said the vice-chancellor.

Those who have a direct family link in Chile or obtain employment contract will receive temporary residence by employment contract, while those who cannot adapt to one of the two previous options they will be accommodated under refugee status.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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