An Afghan national who spent years in a foreign country has now established a private company in capital Kabul and said the respect and honor one has in the country of origin could not be found in other nations.
This is Mohammad Saleem Sarfarazi, from the Onkhai area of Syedabad district in Maidan Wardak province.
He said going to foreign countries through illegal land routes was risky and exploring work opportunities were also difficult. Additional one will face a strange culture and language in a foreign country.
He told that through Iran and Turkey he went to Norway where he spent five years but was unable to learn their language and find work for himself.
He added now he has an Ezogam Company in Kabul and was happy with his work.
Referring to the illegal land routes to European nations he said: “Our first goal was Iran’s capital Tehran. Police captured us close to Tehran in a village, they put us in the prison and after few days of torture and humiliation we were sent back to Afghanistan.”
Upon the deportation from Iran he said they were happy on coming back to the country while from another side they were concerned at the deteriorated economic condition of their families and taught that shopkeepers will ask them for the debt.
Sarfarazi’s eyes welled up and his Rado watch shined to the sun. “At that time it was very difficult for us that decide that we should come back home from Nimroz because our financial situation was not good. I borrowed food and other items from shopkeepers and told them that I will go for work in Iran and first will pay their loan.”
He added that for the second time he talked to agents and after 15 days of difficult journey he reached Iran.
Soon after going to Iran he started wells digging work with his other fellow Afghans. He recalled he lost three of his friends when they buried under the well.
He added he made a lot of efforts but was unable to do anything adding that he called police who came and recovered one injured and two bodies from the well.
“We took the injured to the hospital where officials demanded his identity but we were illegal and were told to go out of the hospital,” he added.
“I felt there that there is no match for your country of origin,” he said.
According to Sarfarazi, they took their injured friend to Imam-i-Hussain state run hospital and after a lot of requests they agreed to hospitalize him.
He said: “The charges of his treatment were accounted for millions of tomman which were not available with our injured friend, we were told by the hospital officials that our friend will stay in the hospital until the pay the charges of his treatment and.”
He said they later collected money from some other Afghans who were also in Iran illegally for work and manage to discharge the injured friend from the hospital.
“The bodies or our two friends who died in the well were taken by police who demanded the relatives of our deceased friends to be present to handover bodies, otherwise their bodies will remain in the freezer until their relatives comes.”
He said the relatives of our deceased friends finally obtained visas from Iran’s embassy in Kabul travelled to Tehran and took the bodies of their relatives.
Sarfarazi said this incident forced me to leave Iran and go to European country Norway. I head from people that there is more money in Europe and good life so I went to Norway through illegal land and sea route.
He said upon reaching to Norway he discovered the life was difficult there because he did not knew the language and in order to find work one has to have a diploma in a particular profession.
“After spending five years in Norway, I could not find work and obtained diploma so I decided to return and accepted the life back at home with poverty and difficulties,” he said.
He said he returned from Norway with the help of UN International Organisation for Migration and started to find work here.
After sometimes he said his brother gave him some money to start business so he went to Iran and inked an agreement with a Iranian company and started Ezogam business in Kabul.
Sarfarazi said he was happy with his work and in addition to himself he provided work opportunity to some other individuals as well.
In his message to youth who go to foreign nations through illegal routes, he said: “The work opportunity and pleasure available in Afghanistan could not be found anywhere else. I want all the youth not to deceive by the sweet promises of agents and never ravel to any country illegally.”
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