The Struggle of Afghan Patients

A while ago, I came back from India, where I went for an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) surgery of my knee. Being there for a longer period of days than the last times, it struck me that as soon as large number of Afghans starts pouring into any country; especially neighboring countries the whole society changes dramatically. Today I want to share some of the experiences and stories I witnessed and heard firsthand in different cities of neighboring countries. New Delhi in India & Peshawar in Pakistan are the two main cities where Afghans go in large numbers due to lack of reliable medical institutions in Afghanistan. And the locals of these two communities love to see Afghans who don’t know the language.

 Indians like many others nations know Afghan citizens by their currency name (Afghani), rather than Afghan. Whether it is a cabbie, Rickshawwala or the fruit seller on the street to even doctors, medical centers, Afghan students who become interpreters or Guest House owners; they all believe that Afghans come to India with pockets full of American dollars, and they must return empty pocketed to Afghanistan because they can fill it back up.

When in Delhi if you don’t have the common knowledge of Hindi or Urdu to communicate with locals, then obviously you are doomed. You will be charged 500 Indian rupees which is equivalent of 500 Afs for a kilometer long distance in a rickshaw. On the other hand if you go and hire an Afghan student who works as an interpreter to assist you in your doctor’s appointment; you will not be directed to a reasonable hospital with good physicians and equipments but you will be told to visit certain physician who has a private clinic. This clinic will not have the equipments and a doctor too will of low standards, but because the interpreter has prior arrangements with him/her you will go there.

The guesthouses have their own style of looting Afghans. You will be offered a small room with no TV; no air ventilation system but only has a bed for approximately 700 – 1000 rupees minimum wage per night. You will not be able to argue for a better room, because there aren’t any. Since Afghans rush into New Delhi everyday; guesthouses are almost preoccupied. A Muslim guesthouse owner whose two bedroom apartment I and my parents rented now owns ten guesthouses in the area. He told me with a smiling face that all of the wealth comes from Allah, and Afghans are the facilitators of the wealth. On the contrary to renting their guesthouses they also are money exchange dealers and take at least 10 dollars benefit in every hundred US dollars they change. Overall every day Afghans who can’t defend themselves verbally are victims of different scams in India, and no one is there to say a word.

At last what hurts me the most is to see some but not all Afghan students who go there either through governmental scholarships or pay in colleges and become interpreters. Instead of being any help they are another burden on Afghan patients. I wish this ends one day and our Afghan government are able to provide good healthcare services.  

Life is full of opportunities and chances

                Life is full of opportunities and chances, and everyone gets a chance to show/ prove their abilities to the society. These chances and opportunities can sometimes come very easily; on the other hand it might take a long time and a lot of effort to make it come true.

                The life time opportunity that changed my life and described my life objective was the time I got selected for YES (Youth Exchange and Study), a yearlong high school exchange program in US. It all started in the second term of my junior year in High school, when every student was studying very hard to get good scores in their final term exams and promote to twelfth grade.  In a Tuesday of September 2008 a group of recruiters came to my High school (Habibia) to recruit students for the pre test of YES.  I missed my chance there, and at the moment I thought I missed the most important chance I could have had in my entire life. 

                Luckily the next day, due to our principal’s request from the YES office our school got another chance of recruitment. The real dream of going to US found its beginning right there. First the pre test, then the second test followed by the interview and finally I was selected along with the other fifty students from all over Afghanistan to go to an American High school for a year as an exchange student.

Before this golden opportunity I didn’t have a proper objective for life. Like other thousands and thousands of Afghan high school students I was very hopeless from life in Afghanistan, because I thought I will finish high school and then what. I always thought that no one has a proper future living in Afghanistan; we get nothing but war and devastation in here. Our lives are just worthless and empty.

When I got selected as an exchange student, I felt very privileged and made a life changing decision with myself that no matter what I must use this chance to build a better understanding bridge between the two countries. As part of the program we went to India for a month long orientation, and I got to know all these students from different parts of Afghanistan. Some of the stories that we shared amongst us, made me realize that life is good when you make it good. It’s you who decide everything both positive and negative. After our orientation in India was close to an end, I got the sad news of not being able to go to US with other ten students. The reason for that were, the bad decisions other students made before us by fleeing to Canada. I had to stay in India for another two weeks before going to US.

 In US I made the decision that I won’t do the mistakes others did before me. I got the opportunity to come here; I will try my best to give a good image of our beloved country Afghanistan.  I won’t be one of those who fled to Canada. My main objective was to show the other side of Afghanistan, not just the war side. I started meeting people in my community, gave presentations to different people with different ideas about Afghanistan, and joined different clubs in my host high school to show we have a lot of different good things other than war.

I got some of the best memories of my life that I will never forget, there was the moment when my high school friends threw a farewell party for me and my friends had tears in their eyes when saying goodbyes to me. I had proud moments when my teachers told me that one day I will brighten the future of my country. On the other hand there were some sad ones too, but those were the ones that kept me motivated towards my goal. There were moments when unexpected questions were asked; such as do you use camels as means of transportation? And other questions like this. But I always tried to be determined towards my aim; which was to show the other side the happy side of Afghanistan to the world. 

At the end this opportunity was a life changing break for me, it made me realize how one person’s decision can change a lot of other peoples’ lives. If I didn’t get to go to states there would have been people with the different misconceptions about Afghanistan. If I fled to Canada like a lot of other students did, what would happen to those who apply for the program after me. Would the US cancel the program? Would they stop accepting people from the region I was selected? There were a lot of things that could occur to the people after me. And these were the thoughts that kept me on my track and made it a successful year of my life.