What's your story? Wanted: more Afghan stories. The oral history project is looking for more participants. If you're a refugee from Afghanistan or a neighbouring country and would like to create an oral history or digital story, contact Allison Penner at 204-786-9009 or al.penner@uwinnipeg.ca.

Researchers at the University of Winnipeg's Oral History Centre are documenting the experiences of young people who fled Afghanistan and settled in Winnipeg.

"Canada has a history of involvement in Afghanistan and most of what we know comes from the media," said project leader Allison Penner. The Afghan oral history project will create digitized documents for historians and everyday Canadians to learn about the refugees' experiences.
"It has real value for the future," said Penner. "It doesn't take long before people are forgetting how they got here and why -- particularly with conflicted backgrounds. Parents might not be comfortable talking about it, so there's silence."

Afghan refugee Zahra Rezaie (right) is telling her story to Allison Penner so that others can learn from her experiences. Photo Store

Some refugees never tell anyone what happened to them and take their stories to the grave.
"The wider community never hears those stories."
For 21-year-old Zahra Rezaie, telling her story to Penner has been therapeutic.
"She digs deep into every aspect of my life -- she's a therapist," said Rezaie. "I've been away such a long time. There are parts that are traumatizing to remember."
Her family fled Afghanistan in 1998 after her father was killed fighting the Taliban, who eventually took over their city, Mazar-e-Sharif, in the north.
Rezaie saw a lot of suffering and death before they left Afghanistan when she was five.
"There are parts where it was hard to remember and hard to talk about. It was, and still is, very difficult to lose your family, your home, one of your best friends," said Rezaie. "I don't know how I pulled through. How did that five-year-old child do these things -- walk away and pretend that you didn't step over your friend's dead body?"
Penner said the interviewees decide what to share and whether or not they want it made public. Rezaie is determined to share what she can recall.
"I've moved past hiding it," said Rezaie. "Hiding it isn't going to help anyone. It shocks a lot of people to tell them I have gone through that and I can smile. Just because I have gone through a traumatic event, it doesn't stop me from being a strong person," she said. "Life is about moving on and learning and rediscovering who you are," said the University of Winnipeg student.
She hopes the project will inform Canadians about who the Afghan people are.
"A lot of people have a lot of misconceptions," said Rezaie. "They're not Taliban. The Taliban aren't even from Afghanistan -- we don't want them to be there, either."
She, her mom and three brothers fled the Taliban and spent six years in Iran before coming to Canada in 2003 at age 11.
"Life in Iran is very difficult for Afghan refugees," said Rezaie. "The government makes it very difficult to have jobs, go to school, obtain higher education or medical treatment," she said.
Her widowed mom found "odd jobs" doing bead and clay work she brought home for the kids to help with, she said.
"We'd stay up till beyond 11 and 12 at night working with my mother to just make ends meet."
She hung on to a pleasant childhood memory from Afghanistan: sitting beside a pool with her grandmother braiding her hair.
"That is one of my fondest memories." And not a slice of Afghanistan life that most Canadians would ever get to hear.
"I want to give a lot of people in Afghanistan a voice -- they're not the people the media in North America portray them to be."

By: Carol Sanders
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Source: winnipegfreepress



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