Afghan Canadians
The view from here
Afghan-Canadians tell their stories
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 | 5:29 PM ET
CBC News
As part of our joint focus on Afghanistan at this crucial time in its history, CBCNews.ca and its French counterpart at Radio-Canada in Montreal asked Afghan-Canadians to tell us their stories.
How they arrived? How they are faring? What are their views on the election in their old homeland and the situation there?
These are some of their stories. If you have your own personal memories of Afghanistan or photos from there that you would like to share, please contact us through our Your Voice site.
More personal stories and assessments, in French, can be found at the Radio-Canada version of this feature, L'Afghanistan vu d'ici.
Barin Habibi
I am 22 and a student in Spanish and Arabic. I want to teach in primary and secondary education in developing countries, which explains my passion for languages.
Barin Habibi (centre) with her mother Nasima and her father Shah Habibi. (Courtesy Habibi family) In 1989, my mother Nasima, my sister Navin, my little brother Zakria and I left Afghanistan for India, without our father. We spent three years separated from him because of his involvement in the army for military service.
After this long period, he joined us in India and we started to plan our departure for Canada, a proceeding that lasted about a year and a half. Six months before our departure, our little brother Mustafa was born and we all set foot on this beautiful land on March 23, 1993.
Each of us are extremely grateful to have this opportunity and we know how lucky we are to be still alive.
Today we look at the news and hear about the presidential elections and, whatever the outcome, we hope to have a leader who can make the right decisions and take the right path for our country, which has lived with war for a quarter century.
Changing Afghanistan is truly a hard, demanding and long-term job. Whatever promises were made a few years ago are still not all accomplished. But it does not mean that we should lose hope.
Whoever is elected as the new president will have to face challenges and decisions that many other presidents around the world will never be confronted with.
In a country where education for girls is such a big obstacle, President Hamid Karzai made it possible for thousands and thousands of young girls to go back to school. Although there is still a long way to go, it is an immense achievement.
Shah Ismatullah Habibi (Barin's father)
In the late 1980s, I left Afghanistan for India as a refugee because of the war. My wife and my children were already there for almost two years.
From there, we were accepted as refugees by Canada in 1992 and we arrived in Quebec in March 1993. We remained nearly two weeks in Granby but there was no French courses. So we moved to Sherbrooke.
My wife and I began our French courses, three of my children began to attend school and the youngest went to kindergarten.
After five months of courses, I found a job in a printing house and my wife found one 80 kilometres away in a rubber factory. She worked during the evening and I was working during the day for over two years.
At the same time, I volunteered to forge links with the host community and the different companies, so that my compatriots and members of other cultural communities do not have to face the problems that I had.
For example, the first group of Afghans who arrived after me was able to benefit from my contacts. This was still quite difficult in the region but we were able to find work for them in Lac-Mégantic. Their family members remained in Sherbrooke and the parents travelled morning and evening.
Thereafter, because of all these difficulties, I decided to devote my time exclusively to helping immigrants. Since 2004, I have been CEO of the Association éducative transculturelle (AET), a non-profit organization involved in mentoring and the integration of cultural communities.
As for the election in Afghanistan, I think this election could change the situation if corruption is prevented. And if the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan remained closed during and after the elections in order to prevent the arms traffic between the terrorist groups.
Also, the country needs to receive the promised international support and investors must ensure that the money be placed in the right places, in the good organizations and with the good people. In 2004, Karzai won with 54 per cent of the vote. This time, the result will be different because the situation has changed in the recent years.
Sohaifa Amiri
Sohaifa Amiri. (Courtesy Sohaifa Amiri) My name is Sohaifa Amiri. I am an Afghan-Canadian. I was born in Kabul and left my country of birth at the age of 11, following the start of the civil war in 1992. After immigrating to Pakistan, I arrived in Canada with my family in 1995.
A graduate of IT engineering from the University of Quebec, I currently work for Hydro-Quebec. I've unfortunately seen Afghanistan as a country in continuous turmoil.
In 2001, hope for peace and prosperity became a tangible possibility. But unfortunately conditions did not improve much since then, most obviously in the areas of public security, the economy, and human rights.
Hopefully with the upcoming presidential election in Afghanistan, things will get better.
Feridu Adel
Feridun Adel. (Courtesy Feridun Adel) I am Feridun Adel, an Afghan-born Canadian. I come from Kabul and I left Afghanistan when I was seven years old with my family for Russia and then Germany.
I moved to Montreal in 1996 and I am currently studying law and political science at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
A. H. Nasranee
My name is A. H. Nasranee. I am from Kabul, Afghanistan, and I am 26 years old. I am a restaurant owner since May 2000 in Quebec where I live.
I left my country when I was 13, but I love Afghanistan and I am going back there before 2011. "Inshah Allah," which means "God willing."
