An Afghan Abroad Aches for His Homeland

[Editor’s note: In 2016, Mohammad Amin Ahmadi and his wife started Social Forum Hope. The Canadian non-profit helps families in Afghanistan whose fathers have been killed in war. They operated a small thrift store called Hope Omid in New Westminster, where they live. They closed it temporarily during the pandemic and switched to running a food hamper program instead.

With the Taliban retaking Afghanistan, where Ahmadi is from, his staff and volunteers are caught in the chaotic transition. He has not heard from some family members in days. This conversation with Ahmadi was edited and condensed for brevity.]

In 2016, I created a non-profit organization in Canada and Afghanistan called Social Forum Hope. Unlike in North America, it’s mostly fathers in Afghanistan who take care of families. Most women cannot get work because nobody gives them work. So when fathers die, many families are broke. And so they send the children to work, instead of going to school. We want to stop child labour in Afghanistan. We provide education for orphaned children, widowed women and disabled people: writing, reading, job and skills training. We also offer food, medication, money — anything.

My sister, my brother and all my cousins are in Kabul right now.

My staff and volunteers in Afghanistan, who have worked with me for six years, all of them are at risk. They are all at home. They cannot go out. It’s very dangerous if the Taliban know they have connections with other countries. In our office is a big Canadian flag, so of course they know they work with Canadians.

Social Forum Hope is not very big. We don’t have any big sponsors. We’re a non-profit, not yet a charity. Officially, we have 50 staff, and then other volunteers on call.

I was born in Afghanistan. In 1979, when it looked like war, my family moved to Iran. There were lots of refugees, but Iran didn’t give us documents — no passports, no ID cards.

The racism was too much. Every day, they hit us in the streets. So when I was nine years old, I decided to protect myself. One of our relatives lived in Pakistan, and he studied shaolin, the martial art, in China. Every year, two times a year for a month or two, he came from Pakistan to teach us. We studied very hard, but also learned very fast. Everyone respected me, even Iranians.

We couldn’t go to university, only do jobs like construction and farming. So I decided to go to Russia. I was a tailor and also taught shaolin. I met my wife there. I lived in Russia for 12 years. But they also didn’t give me documents as a refugee. I thought about my children — no documents, no education, nothing. So I applied as a refugee to Canada, and they approved it. Now my children are safe and in a good place. One was born in Russia and three were born in Canada.

But I’ve never forgotten about Afghanistan, and those who need help. I saw how bad the situation was when we moved from Afghanistan to Iran, when Russia came in to fight. That’s why I’m not ignoring it, even though my life is good in Canada.

A lot of the funding for Social Forum Hope comes from our community of Afghans in Canada. Most of us rent in Surrey, New Westminster and Burnaby. Those of us who can afford to buy homes are in Maple Ridge, where they are cheaper. Social Forum Hope has piggy banks in homes and stores. In our culture, there’s this word: sadaqah. It’s a kind of charity. People can give 10 cents, 50 cents, whatever they can.

I see the news, and I see that my people are scared. My heart hurts. They’re hanging onto airplanes — this is not a bike or a car, it’s an airplane, and they know they can die. This is an important message for all the world, because it shows how scared people are of the Taliban. To the U.S., it’s a game, and who loses are the people.

I hope everybody can make noise. When they found the First Nations children, we made noise too. We’re all human, and we should all help each other.