داکتر سینا
Dr. Seena
(POLAND)
“I felt like crying when we left. Leaving your home is very difficult.”
Dr. Seena worked in hospitals in Nangarhar and Kabul as well with the French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children in Kabul. Now in Poland, Dr. Seena aims to continue her education and receive certification to resume her work as a doctor.
Q1: What is a single memory or story you remember from Afghanistan?
I will never forget the three days I spent in the airport — they were extremely difficult. In those three days, I was terribly hungry and thirsty and it was hard to move because there were seven to eight thousand people coming and going. The help we were receiving from foreigners was only just enough to survive.
But I also have really good memories from the place that I worked in Afghanistan. I especially have good memories of my work with French visitors. I learned a lot from them, and I am trying to learn more. The staff were good, and life was very good — so I do have good memories of Afghanistan. I have also spent good days out together with my family.
I liked working with the French people because of their teamwork, and the training they gave us. I learned a lot from them, skills that I can use when I go to any other foreign country. So my best memories are learning from my French colleagues — I will always treasure these memories.
Dr. Seena in FMIC hospital in Kabul.
Q2: Tell us the exact moment you decided to leave Afghanistan.
The most difficult moment was when I got a call to come to the airport. It was around eleven-thirty at night and I was in the hospital with patients. It was a strange moment for me, to realize I had the chance to leave. It was difficult for me because I hadn’t visited my relatives in a while — I had been so busy with work. I hadn’t seen my mother and my sister.
I called Naweed and I told him about the call, that they had said we should leave. He was confused how we would be able to leave, but I told him just to come to the hospital and he did. I felt like crying when we did leave the hospital [crying]. Leaving your home is very difficult. What I felt at the moment — I don’t want anyone to feel like that ever because it was so painful.
But despite this, I decided to leave because I had experienced threatening situations and I knew I could not live with the Taliban. I was there and it was my country. At the airport I saw the Taliban and the people they had injured. The Taliban didn’t care if someone was a man, a woman, or child — they hit everyone. Given that this was already the state of things on their first day, I was happy to be going. When I entered the airport, I thanked God that I was going and didn’t have to suffer these barbaric people. I witnessed their barbaric behavior in only three days. We bore a lot of pain. When I reached the camp, I told myself that I would go back once they were gone.
Dr. Seena in her residential area in Poland
Q3: What is something important that you wanted to bring with you? Or what is something you wanted to bring but could not?
The most important things I carried were my passport and documents, and Naweed’s too, because I struggled a lot for these documents. I graduated from Paktia University. I studied at a time when the Taliban were there.
There were many other things that I wanted to bring, but I only brought my documents because they determine my ability to survive. I bring them with me wherever I go, whether I’m working or studying. I left everything else — my house was full of equipment when I see the videos of my house, I remember how I made this house with a lot of enthusiasm. I had thought it would be my house forever, that my life would never change so dramatically. We never expected to leave, and even once we did, we thought it would only be for a short time.
Afghanistan is our country and it needs us. I left everything and took only documents, my most valuable possessions.
Q4: If you could send a message that will be heard in thirty years, what would it be?
My message to the future generation is first: May God bring peace to our country — because many people have been made homeless. Second: Wherever you are, get an education and make yourself strong. Serve the country because the Taliban cannot remain forever. They will leave. I have hope that they will leave. I want to also tell the younger generation that I know it’s difficult to study in foreign countries, but they should endure the difficulty and work hard there in order to become an asset for their Afghanistan. Then we should all go back to our country and families. We should live happy lives. This is my dream — to go back to my country, to a country full of happiness.
“I left my future, my loved ones, my hard work, and my country to find a safe place for me and my kids.”