Sara's story

by Georgann Yara, working for ASU News

Wearing a burka was not something Sara was used to. In fact, she had never worn one on the road she traveled daily near her home in central Afghanistan.
 
But on this August night, Sara completely covered herself as she rode in the car on the familiar path that seemed like a foreign place.
 
“I used to not wear a burka or even a scarf on that road. But that time, I wore a burka. I saw how the city changed so differently,” Sara recalls from the calm and safety of her room at ASU. “I didn’t see any other women, just terrorist groups wandering around, shooting… celebrating victory.”
 
This was the scene Sara faced in the wake of the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan. The Taliban entered her hometown of Bamiyan on Aug. 15, the same day they took Kabul. Sara left the city to find safety elsewhere, but a friend called her with the news the capital was gone.
 
Bamiyan had been the site of women’s educational opportunities, music festivals and other events that celebrated life. Sara quickly realized that was gone.
 
“That day changed everything. Bamiyan was no longer Bamiyan. The feeling of the people had been changed a lot,” she says, with her eyes gazed downward.
 
Sara is among those who will receive a fully-funded degree from ASU thanks to a partnership with the Asian University for Women (AUW), which had to close its Bangladesh campus due to COVID-19. Its students were sent back home to Afghanistan prior to the American withdrawal.  
 
She was on a chartered flight that brought 61 AUW students and alumni to Phoenix last December, the result of a collaborative effort by ASU, alumni and corporate partners.
 
Sara’s family moved to another city in Afghanistan seeking safety. Because her family remains in Afghanistan, she has chosen to be called Sara, which is not her real name.
 
Sara earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from AUW and was working in Afghanistan. Sara says her former work colleagues are in great danger, which is why she doesn’t want to disclose what her job was. This applies to her sister as well , who was also on that chartered flight and is pursuing a degree at ASU.
 
The lack of proper sanitation, clean water and air pollution in parts of Afghanistan inspired Sara to pursue her environmental degree. Dissatisfied with how instructors skipped textbook chapters about the functionality of government administration because it was considered taboo, Sara aimed to debunk that notion.
 
“I wanted to go back and work on these issues. I chose my major because I planned to work back in Afghanistan,” she says.
 
However, events changed her plans.
 
Sara and her sister, who is also her ASU roommate, had been the breadwinners of their small, close-knit family of women.
 
Sara’s decision to leave meant saying goodbye to nearly everyone she loved. And her mother’s health added to the weight of her actions. Her father passed away in 2018, leaving only Sara and her two sisters to care for her mother, who is unable to walk due to severe joint problems.
 
“There were days I was like, ‘Shall I go or not?’ Eventually I was thinking if I stay in Afghanistan, I cannot do anything. I will be a burden on my mom and she will be more stressed and scared because of me,” Sara explains, her voice gradually getting lower. “It’s better if I leave Afghanistan because she will be mentally OK that her two daughters are not here in Afghanistan and she will not be worried.”
 
What followed after her final decision was a harrowing series of events. The five days she and other AUW students spent on a caravan of seven buses attempting to enter the Kabul airport had them living on cookies and water, knocking on doors asking those who answered if they could use their bathroom and trying to hold it together amidst explosions, gunfire, suicide bombings and face-to-face threats from the Taliban.
 
Everyone was terrified and exhausted. But a single ultimatum kept them going.
 
“Either stay and be under the control of a terrorist group, or go somewhere to continue our education, to make a living for ourselves,” Sara says.
 
They finally made it inside the airport and onto a military flight. Sara had no idea where they were headed until her mobile phone flashed a notification that the plane had entered Saudi Arabian airspace. Her path to Phoenix went through Spain, Washington D.C. and Fort McCoy Army base in Wisconsin.
 
In the 3 ½ months spent waiting at Fort McCoy, Sara and her companions explored the base. Yearning for something constructive to do, Sara volunteered with a Catholic charity that ran a women’s and children’s center onsite. This gave her the opportunity to interact with babies and young children, guiding them in activities like painting, LEGO play and teaching them basic English and etiquette.
 
This inspired her interest in using her ASU scholarship to pursue a degree in child psychology.
 
“I am able to communicate with kids so easily. They love me and I love them. We had a strong bond,” Sara says with a giggle.
 
When Sara got word she was destined for ASU, she quickly researched the school. She watched student videos of the dorms and rooms.

When Sara arrived in Tempe and started attending classes, and experiencing student life on campus, she was amazed at her new surroundings.
 
“It was something like dreaming come true,” she says. “For a student from Afghanistan who has been discriminated against because of ethnicity and appearance, it’s a dream to go to a very diverse community where everyone is equal and you have a lot of opportunities to discover.”
 
Sara is Hazara, a community that, despite being the third largest group in Afghanistan, has been persecuted for centuries and target of genocide due to their religious beliefs. Sara describes their distinct look: small nose and eyes that are framed by high cheekbones.
 
Sara says prejudice fueled the belief that Hazara women were less than their non-Hazara counterparts. She herself has been told by high-ranking officials that as a Hazara woman she did not have the right to be educated.
 
Hazaras have historically been the target of Taliban death threats. Every morning, the first thing Sara does when she wakes up, is check social media to see messages from her other sister who still lives with her mother. Censorship has shut down media reports so she relies on these updates that include news of increased explosions and violence with the Taliban and Isis blaming each other for the unrest.
 
Sara prays the internet connection back home stays active.
 
“I want to have information every day on what’s going on,” Sara says. “It’s difficult for my mom and sister. Not only are they Hazara but they are women. They cannot go out, cannot get food or travel without a male companion.”

Sara strongly believes that an ASU education and experiences in a more inclusive community will make her a real-life example for the oppressed being forced to live the life she escaped.
 
“All of us have someone dear back in Afghanistan… But it hurts here, down in our hearts,” Sara says with her hand on her chest. “But we are not giving up easily. Maybe our experience can show the world how Afghan women are determined to be educated and independent.”
 
Sara arrived in Phoenix in December 2021. Sahar was among 61 students arriving on a chartered flight that was made possible by ASU alum and private jet charter company Wheel’s Up founder Justin Firestone, Honeywell and Delta Air Lines, along with the support of an Intel Corporation of America grant. Sara is currently taking classes at Global Launch, ASU’s English language learning and academic preparation program, with plans to earn a degree in child psychology.
 
 
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