From Herat to Lexington: 12 countries in 24 months
On August 15, 2021, the Government of the Republic of Afghanistan fell to the Taliban and the whole country was taken over by this brutal regime. At the time, my wife Samima and I both had Government jobs. I did engineering management work in the Department of Education of Herat Province for 5 years. Samima held an IT management post in the Ministry of Education for 4 years.
After the fall of the democratic government, we were unemployed for four months until we fled the country for Iran in November. We were stranded there until the Brazilian Embassy in Tehran announced that they were offering humanitarian visas for Afghans.
From Iran to Brazil to Colombia
The visa application process was very difficult. After five months of online registration, on July 14, 2022, the Embassy called and asked us to bring our passports. Two days later, they delivered the passports with visas for Brazil. On October 18, we flew to São Paulo Brazil where we stayed for 13 days until we left for Peru on November 4. The police charged us $20 each for biometric testing and released us in the morning when we took a bus to Hotel Spree for an overnight stay.
We flew to Ecuador the next evening, but we didn’t even go to a hotel: We left the airport and headed directly to Colombia on a bus and then took several different buses through the countryside. We stayed in a house for two nights until we arrived in Puerto César when we were taken by boat to the Columbia coastal town of Necocli.
From Colombia to Panama by boat and walking through the jungle to Costa Rica
We spent just 7 hours at a hotel until we left the same night. We took a very dangerous boat through the jungle that went too fast. It was frightening! There were too many people on the boat –there was not enough room for all of us. We were in the jungle of Panama. We slept in tents at night. We walked through the dense forest, and even across rivers, for 4 nights and days until we got to Costa Rica. It was very difficult. We saw mountains and then the sea.
It was very dark in the morning when we arrived at the immigration camp in Costa Rica. After every person did their biometric measures, we took the bus overnight to the border of Nicaragua. We changed from the bus to a small car and spent the night in a hotel. At 7 am, we went to the bus terminal, took an overnight bus to the country of Honduras, and then continued driving until we arrived at the border of Guatemala the next day.
We sat in white taxis, we couldn’t cross the border so we rested at a house for a day.
Crossing the border into Mexico
Crossing the Mexico border was very difficult. It was not possible to travel during the day, only at night. When it was dark, we left for the Mexican border and crossed a lake. Later they transferred us to the city of Tapachula. The 2-hour drive was scary and painful. The car was speeding very fast since the police were chasing us. The people who transported us were very afraid of the police.
When we arrived at the immigration camp, there were many people waiting for biometric testing. At 4 am we got in line, and they didn’t finish our paperwork until 13 hours later. Afterwards, we went to a hotel in Tapachula Mexico for 5 nights. On the sixth night, we took a boat all night to San Pedro. We were there in the camp for 2 nights until the next day when we finished our paperwork. It was very cold and there were many people from all different countries in this camp. The next day we arrived in Mexico City and spent the night in the bus terminal. The next day we booked a ticket to Tijuana. Traveling on this route was very tiring. The Mexican police would stop the vehicle, board the bus and forcefully take money from those of us riding inside. If anyone did not pay, they would not allow him to pass and they would push that person back. It was really terrible. The bus finally arrived in Tijuana, and the next day we left for the American border.
Finally, Crossing the US Border
As soon as we entered the border, the Border Police cars came and asked us a few questions in a very good manner and took us to the camp. We were in the camp for 7 nights until we were transferred to an Arizona camp where we stayed for 5 nights. After processing our documents, they separated the men from the women. I was transferred with the other men to Mississippi and Samima and the other women were transferred to Louisiana. All the administrative work for immigration was finished at these camps.
The day I left Afghanistan, I was away from my whole family. So when Samima and I separated from each other again it was very difficult for both of us, especially since Samima did not have a phone. Every second was difficult for us.
After 24 days, we were reunited in Massachusetts. First, we lived with some Afghan friends until we connected to the International Institute of New England who helped us to find housing, first in Methuen and later in Lexington.
We moved into Follen Church in Lexington on the first of November in 2023 and had a baby 24 days later! We were happy to bring our child home from the hospital to a safe and comfortable house in Lexington where we live with our nephew. When we get our working permits, we are hoping to work with a local organization where we can use our education and management experience.