More than forty days ago, on August 24, I left Afghanistan on a foreign-backed plane with a group of my fiancé’s family members. My fiancé had worked with foreigners for a while and had a Special Immigration Visa.
We spent almost two days at Kabul Airport; Where we did not even have drinking water and a place to sleep. At Kabul Airport, people were lying on the ground. It was very cold at night and very hot during the day, and the people were suffering. Men and women were everywhere. There was no food. Out of necessity, we ate cocoa and biscuits given by foreigners. There was no restroom. At night, the children trembled from the cold. Mothers had to hold their babies tightly until morning to keep them warm. Parents had to stay up all night so that their children would not catch a cold. We were suffering. Two nights, though, passed like that.
On the third night, they informed us that a plane was coming for us. We got ready to fly. We were awake from dinner to dawn. At approximately 9:00 a.m., after much preparation and formalities, we boarded a plane bound for Qatar. We reached Qatar after four hours. Doha was so hot that women fainted as they descended. When we entered the refugee camp, the weather in the camp was colder and there was room to sleep. We had not eaten for almost one night and one day. When we arrived in Qatar, they distributed food to us; To be more specific Chicken Fried Rice. There were also apples and fruit juices. They brought biscuits and other things. I was very happy.
We spent about two days in Qatar. The weather was very warm in Doha. During the day, it was unbearable. At the end of the second day, we went to the Qatar Biometric Camp. We were told you were flying to Germany. The plane moved, but before taking off, it stopped and told us to get off, you will fly straight to America tomorrow. The next day we flew to the US. We were happy to go to America. Therefore, we spent a day and a night on the plane and finally arrived in the United States in four days.
We got off the plane in Washington and were taken to a camp. In the camp, we were divided into two categories. Those who had an SIV case wore red bracelets, and those who did not have SIV wore yellow bracelets. We, who had a case, were taken to a hotel and others were taken to the camps in Texas and other US states.
Those who had the case came with us to Virginia and now live in a hotel. Their work is under process. They used to give us good food and water, but now they bring us things that are hard to eat. Almost a month and a half have passed since we have been here at a hotel called Halo Day in Express. It is not clear what will happen to us next.
[box type=”info” align=”alignleft” class=”” width=””]Halima Poya’s Story, Hasht-e Subh Persian[/box]
