Episode 80, 21 min listen
In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing four Afghan youth. In their voices we hear the beautiful energy and resilience of the young, even ones who have left so much behind. We will learn a little about their journey and the dreams they have for their future.
Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors. where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville South Carolina.
AUDIO PLAYER
You can access this episode wherever you listen to podcasts via our pod.link.
Artwork done by the youth and described in the podcast.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
Listen to our full immigration justice series here.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
-Introduction
Ame Sanders 00:10
This is the State of Inclusion Podcast and I'm Ame Sanders.
There is a lot in the news every day about immigrants. And, a lot of it is negative.
What if we went beyond the news? What if we opened our hearts and minds to better understand the reality of immigrants in our own community.
Over the next several weeks, we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville South Carolina. Along the way, we will meet neighbors, families, friends, local icons, and legends. We will come to understand some of the challenges our immigrant neighbors face and how we can become better allies. Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors.
If you have been listening to the State of Inclusion podcast for a while, you know that this is my seventh year of podcasting. Yet, this interview offered me the gift of several first-time experiences.
- The first time to interview youth.
- The first time to interview siblings.
- The first time to interview someone in their own home.
- The first time to interview someone while seated on the floor.
- The first time to meet an Afghan family.
On a hot sunny, summer day, my colleague Wendy met me outside in the parking lot of an apartment complex just off a busy thoroughfare. It looked like every other apartment building, the doors and breezeways all the same. But as we approached the apartment we were to visit, our first sign that things might be a little different was a large rack of shoes outside the door. That’s when Wendy told me we would want to remove our shoes upon entering their home. Immediately, I curled my toes in my sandals and wished I had worn shoes with socks.
All of my concerns evaporated as we were warmly welcomed into their home. The room was cool and felt somewhat dimly lit after stepping out of the hot sun. Despite the fact that the children greeted us exuberantly, the space felt incredibly calm and welcoming.
A small group of furniture was positioned in one corner, but most of the room was a fully open space with beautiful rugs layering across floor. Afghan pillows for seating lined the walls around the room. We learned the mother had made those herself from fabrics brought directly from Afghanistan. My toes uncurled against the plush rugs and I relaxed.
And then there was the food.
Our southern hospitality has nothing on Afghan hospitality. Both times we visited this lovely family we were fed. On our first visit, the mother had risen early to make stuffed Afghan bread for us. So soft and delicious. On our second visit, we were treated to a beautiful pulao, a rice dish topped with stewed meat.
And then, there were the children.
In this episode, we have the pleasure to hear from 4 of the family’s 5 children. We will not use their names, but will refer to them using a combination of letters. We had planned to interview only the three older sisters, but after the younger brother listened in, he wanted to add his story as well. And his mom agreed.
As a reminder, thousands of people have been forced to flee from Afghanistan in the years since the Taliban took control of their country’s government. Through refugee resettlement, some of them have become neighbors in communities across our county, including here in Greenville. In this episode, we will have the honor to meet some of them.
-Interview with MW (18 yrs old)
This part of the interview will be with MW the oldest sister.
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and about your family?
MW 04:02
Okay, we are seven people, and my family is very beautiful, and they are so kind.
Ame Sanders 04:11
What is it that brought you to put down roots in Greenville?
MW 04:14
Trees, flowers..
Ame Sanders 04:18
Those are things you like about Greenville.
MW 04:21
Yeah.
Ame Sanders 04:22
Okay, can you tell me about how you think about home and what you consider to be home?
MW 04:28
Home is very good for us, we're living in there, but we don't have the house where we can live in.
Ame Sanders 04L37
So explain that to me a little bit more,
MW 04:39
Because we have house, we're living in there, but some people not house, but they're living outside the house. That's it.
Ame Sanders 04:49
Okay, and so you feel good that you have a house and a place to live and a place to call home. You know, community is all about being welcomed and feeling safe and belonging. So if you would, would you tell me a little bit about how you're feeling and how you feel about being part of a community.
MW 05:08
The community is very good, and I'm proud of them. They are staying in there, and they are cleaning all of the roots, place, all of them. And the community is very good.
Ame Sanders 05:23
When you look forward to the future for yourself, because I know you're a young woman. So how old are you?
MW 05:30
18
Ame Sanders 05:32
18, okay. So you're a young woman, and you have a bright future ahead of yourself. What is something that you hope for or dream of for you or for your family?
MW 05:39
Okay, first, I want to be a nurse’s aid. Then I want to buy house for my family, and then I want to buy car. I want to get a job. I, this year I graduate from high school, and I want to be going to college, and then I want to be in nursing.
Ame Sanders 06:02
What do you wish we knew? People like me knew about immigrants and refugees and people that have come?
MW 06:08
Like Wendy, they are helping us too much when we came here, but we didn't speak English very well when we came here, but now they are helping us. Now we have house, cars, lessons, permit, all of them we have.
Ame Sanders 06:26
So they've helped you with that. And what thoughts or advice do you have for people like me and neighbors around to be a better ally or support?
MW 06:38
People support us like Wendy. We didn't speak English. They said reading, writing and speaking. My mom doesn't speak English. They’re helping us. She’s going to English class like that. Now my mom’s English is good.
Ame Sanders 07:01
Yeah. So language skills are so important.
Thank you so much. Very Good.
MW 07:03
You're welcome.
-Interview with SF (15 yrs old)
Ame Sanders 07:08
This part of the interview will be with SF, the second to the oldest sister.
You ready? Okay.
We all put down roots. And where we put down our roots matters.
SF 07:19
Our roots matter is that we come in Greenville because of the people, the trees. And people that we talk with them, and they're like, very kind to us. That's why I like Greenville.
Ame Sanders 07:30
Tell me a little bit about what home means to you.
SF 07:33
Home means love, safe. I'm happy with my family. We're enjoying our time, and I'm here with my beautiful family. So that's why.
Ame Sanders 07:43
Community is all about welcoming and belonging and feeling safe. So if you would tell me a little bit about how you're feeling these days.
SF 07:51
I feel really good. I feel like I feel good. But when we the first time that we arrived in here, but I was like, not feeling good because there was, like, no one helping us and we doesn't speak. I feel much better these days. Yeah, and I really like it.
Ame Sanders 08:06
Can you share some of the things that were hardest when you first arrived and anything that's still hard for you now?
SF 08:12
The things that it was hard for me when we came here, there was like, no one like with us. We was alone. So we met our friends that they come, and we doesn't have a car, we were, just like, alone, and we doesn't speak English. We was not going to grocery store and then tell what we met one day like Laura and her daughter, and then we met our friend's and they was like, getting us to the shoppings and grocery store to buy things.
Ame Sanders 08:38
So when you first arrived, feeling alone was hard.
SF 08:40
Yeah, it was really hard for us, and especially for my mom and for my dad.
Ame Sanders 08:41
Yeah, I'm sure. Does it feel better now you feel.
SF 08:47
Yeah, it feels better now.
Ame Sanders 08:49
Yeah. Is there anything that's still hard for you?
SF 08:52
The thing that is hard for us that my dad is, he's the only one he's working. He's, like, paying, like, every month he's paying $1,000 and, like, there's no one with him to work. So that's the thing. Is hard for me.
Ame Sanders 09:03
So work, yeah, for your parents,
If we look forward to the future, because you're a young woman, how old are you?
SF 09:10
Fifteen.
Ame Sanders 09:11
Fifteen, okay. So what is it that gives you hope, or that you hope for?
SF 09:16
I'll hope for to go back to my country, because visiting my grandfather, my grandmother to see my cousin and like, my uncles and like, go back to my country, because I miss my country.
Ame Sanders 09:27
So you want to visit the family that you left behind.
Okay, so thank you so much.
SF 09:33
You’re Welcome.
Ame Sanders 09:35
Okay, all right.
SF 09:37
Did I do good?
Ame Sanders 09:38
You did very well. You both did very well.
-Interview with MQ (12 yrs old)
This part of the interview will be with MQ the third oldest sister.
Tell me a little bit about how you think about home. What does home mean to you?
MQ 09:55
Home means to me that my family is with me, my sister, my siblings, they're with me, and home is where our heart is, where those we love are.
Ame Sanders 10:04
Community, you know, is all about belonging and welcoming and feeling safe. And tell me about a time that you felt particularly welcomed or included or safe.
MQ 10:14
When we came in here, first, when we came in here, I feel like very welcome, and then I feel much safer now, because in my country, I feel safe, but you know, my dad was like, in dangerous, you know those people, and now I feel much safer.
Ame Sanders 10:30
And so you feel safer here?
MQ 10:31
Yes
Ame Sanders 10:34
How are you feeling these days?
MQ 10:37
I feel pretty good. I feel really grateful. I feel good now.
Ame Sanders 10:41
Okay. When you look back, so I know you're not very old, but when you look back, is there something that you had to let go of or leave behind that you think about?
MQ 10:51
Yes, my grandma, my grandfather our like our big house, my uncles, my aunts. I really miss them.
Ame Sanders 10:59
Can you share some of the things that were the hardest for you when you first arrived?
MQ 11:13
I didn't know speak English, and my parents didn't work, and we didn't have, like, we had apartment, but, you know, the money was very expensive. We didn't know English. And when we go to school, it was hard for us to speak English with other kids, the teachers, and yeah.
Ame Sanders 11:21
So that was hard?
MQ 11:22
Yeah.
Ame Sanders 11:24
What is it that's still hard now?
MQ 11:25
The thing is still hard now is just my dad, he works, and then we don't have a house like we had in Afghanistan. And yeah, and my mom and my dad, they speak English, but, you know, not that much, so we're trying for them to learn more English. So yeah.
Ame Sanders 11:41
So it's still a struggle.
MQ 11:41
Yeah,.
Ame Sanders 11:44
Yeah. Tell me about something that you're most proud of.
MQ 11:46
So the first time that we came in here, I didn't know, like, any English, so the first word that I learned was stop. Like, every time when we go everywhere, I learned, like, Stop, S T O P. Like, I learned that word. And then so I go to fifth grade, and my, like, my dad was worried about me because in my country, I didn't go to school and I didn't know any speak English. So when I when I go in there, the teacher was talking, and I don't understand it. So finally I get a words, and my parents was proud of me.
Ame Sanders 12:14
So getting the language you felt you could accomplish more in school?
MQ 12:19
Yeah, and I learned more English than those days.
Ame Sanders 12:24
We're gonna look forward now into the future. So you're a young woman. Tell me how old you are.
MQ 12:25
Twelve.
Ame Sanders 12:27
Twelve. Okay.
So what is it that gives you hope, or something that you hope for yourself or your family?
MQ 12:35
I hope for my I hope for my family to get a house, a big house, like the one we had in our country. And I hope for myself to be a journalist in the future. And I hope that I can visit my family in Afghanistan, my grandma, my grandfather and yeah.
Ame Sanders 12:51
Okay. Is there anything about your story that I haven't asked you, that you want to talk about or tell me?
MQ 12:58
I don't think so. No.
Ame Sanders 13:00
No, so that's it.
Thank you very much.
MQ 13:02
Thank you. You're welcome.
-Interview with AM (8 yrs old)
Ame Sanders 13:06
And this part of the interview will be with the young brother AM.
So remember to talk slowly, even though it's exciting.
Tell me about what home means to you.
AM 13:18
Home means love and like care and I like care about my family.
Ame Sanders 13:04
Tell me about something that you when you think about the future, that you hope for yourself or for your family,
AM 13:30
I hope like to be a cop.
Ame Sanders 13:34
Okay, so you also told me you wanted to be a special kind of cop.
AM 13:37
Like a K-9.
Ame Sanders 13:39
And so why is it that you want to be a K-9 cop?
AM 13:42
Because I want, I want to be, like, a good person and like, arrest people. And then, like, when we was at, like, in our country, I, like, missed my dog so, so much. That's why I want to be a K-9.
Ame Sanders 13:57
So you want to be a K-9 officer, because you love dogs and you miss your dog. You also told me that your dog at home, that you had it in Afghanistan, was a German Shepherd, right? So it's like a lot of the K-9 police officers have and carry with them in their cars and help them catch bad guys. So that's what you want to do when you grow up?
AM 14:17
Yep
Ame Sanders 14:18
What's it like, and is it hard to be one boy amongst all these sisters?
AM 14:22
It feels good.
Ame Sanders 14:23
It feels good. You have good sisters. Okay, good, Big and Little Sisters.
AM 14:27
They like, take like, care of me.
Ame Sanders 14:31
They take care of you. Did [SF] tell you to say that?
AM 14:35
Uh, Yeah.
Ame Sanders 14:38
That's good. Is there anything about your story or that you're thinking about that I didn't ask you about, that you want to tell me
AM 14:45
I like miss our house and like my bike.
Ame Sanders 14:49
So you miss your house and the bike you had. Did you have a bike? Yeah, you did.
Okay. And you haven't gotten one here yet?
AM 14:57
And I think we had a garden.
Ame Sanders 15:00
And a garden. So you missed those things.
SF 15:02
He had a bike in here. Someone stole from us.
Ame Sanders 15:04
So you had one here, but it is gone now.
AM 15:08
It got stolen.
Ame Sanders 15:09
So you miss it. Another good reason to be a policeman, right?
AM 15:12
Another good reason. And, I never saw the sirens like, be like, so, so loud. Yeah, sirens.
Ame Sanders 15:22
They're loud here, louder here than they were in Kabul?
Okay, all right, anything else that we're missing that we need to know?
AM 15:29
And when I finished like, being like K-9, and then I'll like, be a journalist.
Ame Sanders 15:36
Oh, you're going to be a journalist like your big sister. Okay, all right, so you will be able to maybe be a journalist and tell stories about your experience as a police officer too.
Okay, very good. Thank you so much.
AM 15:52
You're welcome.
-About Their Art
Ame Sanders 15:53
One of the things that's part of this process is we ask you guys if you would make some art for us, and you've done some beautiful art. So I want you to tell us a little bit about the art that you've done and what the meaning that's behind it.
Do you want to start?
MW 16:08
Yeah,
Ame Sanders 16:09
okay,
MW 16:10
I made the flag and my family and the country we live. And the family, I wrote it in Dari, in our language, but in English, there is family.
Ame Sanders 16:25
So just tell us what's in the picture.
MW 16:27
The picture is hands, flag, my dad, mom, my four sister with my brother.
Ame Sanders 16:37
Okay, so it's a pair of hands holding in between them, yeah, a picture of your village and your mom and your family.
MW 16:46
The top of them the flag,
Ame Sanders 16:48
And at the top of the hands are the flag, yeah, the Afghanistan flag,
MW 16:59
Yeah.
Ame Sanders 16:52
And then you also have a dining table, yeah.
MW 16:55
That represents lunch. For lunch,
SF 16:57
we used to sit at it and drink tea.
Ame Sanders 16:59
Where you used to sit together to drink tea and enjoy meals together, Yep, yeah. And then you have written the word family there, yes, yes, Okay. And then, in addition to that, you have another symbol on there, I think on the on this side,
MQ 17:15
oh, this Yeah, that means peace.
Ame Sanders 17:17
You have a symbol that means peace. And it's a very beautiful and colorful picture. It's the colors of your flag, yeah, yeah, in the background, it's lovely.
MQ 17:28
So when I see the like this, like behind the hands, it reminds me of my country, the flag, it reminds me of the country.
Ame Sanders 17:34
So you guys have done another picture as well, yeah. So that one is a small picture, but very intimate and beautiful.
MW 17:40
Thank you.
Ame Sanders 17;41
But you also have a very large picture that you did. Who wants to talk about that first.
MQ 17:47
I'm going to talk about this house in this one too.
Ame Sanders 17:49
Okay, so first, let's describe the pictures that we're seeing. So go ahead.
MQ 17:55
So the picture that I draw is a house and a cloud and a like a sun, and these are the gardens, like, you know, flowers in there and grasses.
Ame Sanders 18:05
It's a large canvas, and it has three parts to it, right, or two parts to it. One part is what you just described, which is the house and the sun and the flowers. And what does that represent to you again?
MQ 18:20
It's a house. It represented me, of my like, my house in my country.
Ame Sanders 18:24
Where you came from, right? The house you had before.
Okay? And then there's the upper part of the picture.
MQ 18:31
The thing that she draws is a flag, a big flag of Afghanistan, yeah, which is black, red, green, representative of country flag, and the down of it, at the bottom of it, there's a buildings. So, you know, this person is holding the flag, and then at the down of it, there's, like, beautiful buildings, which was in our country, yeah.
Ame Sanders 18:53
So there's some high-rise buildings?
MQ 18:55
yes, like tall buildings.
Ame Sanders 18:56
Tall buildings that you had when you were in Kabul. Yes, okay. And then there's a person who's sketched drawing and holding the very large flag of your country, yes. Oh yeah, that's beautiful.
SF 19:08
Thanks.
Ame Sanders 19:09
And [SF} drew that,
MQ 19:11
yes, [SF] drew that, and I drew the bottom like this house.
Ame Sanders 19:13
Anything else you want to say about your artwork?
MQ 19:17
So at the first when I draw this, like I didn't feel that I can do it. And then, like, slowly I, like, I said, like, I can do this. And then when I draw it with my mom and my dad, they were so proud of me, and I was proud of my myself too. You know how much hours this took me? Four hours.
Ame Sanders 19:34
It took you four hours, yeah, and we had to think about it too before you drew it, right?
MQ 19:39
Yes,
SF 19:40
Yeah, I think about the first and I drew it.
Ame Sanders 19:43
You think about it and imagine it first, yep. Okay, young ladies, thank you so much for your beautiful artwork and for your stories.
All 19:50
You're welcome. You're welcome.
Thank you. Bye
SN, smallest little sister 19:54
Thank you. Bye.
-Conclusion
Ame Sanders 20:00
So, at first, when Wendy suggested interviewing children, I was hesitant. But I’m so grateful we did and that their parents supported this as well.
In their voices we hear the beautiful energy and resilience of the young. Even ones who have left so much behind in a place they called home, and who miss their grandparents, their dog.
Their beautiful art spoke of difficult moments, of things left behind, of a hope for peace, and of family.
As an older person, I am acutely aware that our community and country’s future rests in the hands of our youth. And that means all of our youth, including our immigrant youth. It is our job to support them and help nurture their dreams, whether those are dreams of building a new home in a new country, becoming a nurse, a journalist, or a K-9 officer.
In their dreams of a better life rests our collective future.
This has been the State of Inclusion podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, the best compliment for our work is your willingness to share the podcast or discuss these ideas with others. Also feel free to leave us a review or reach out. We’d love to hear from you.
Join us for the next episode in this very special series New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors.
CONTRIBUTORS
Guest: For their safety, we are only identifying the youth as MW, SF, MQ, and AM
Host: Ame Sanders
Social Media and Marketing Coordinator: Kayla Nelson
Podcast Coordinator: Emma Winiski
Sound: Uros Nikolic