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Nazzer Alizada
Nazzer Alizada came to Britain as a young asylum seeker from Afghanistan. Hardly educated in his country, he’s been learning English at Cambridge Regional College for only two years. Listen to him speak about Afghani houses, Leona Lewis and his dream of one day being an architect.
| I come from the little village of Jagirí in Afghanistan about two hours from the capital, Kabul. I only completed two or three years at school because it’s not compulsory in my country. My father is a farmer and I stayed home to help on the farm. We supported ourselves completely, no need to go to the shops for milk or meat or any food. We had quite a lot of sheep and cows. |
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We lived in a large house on three floors. The house was traditionally made of stones and sand and mud. My father built it. For a while I worked as a builder helping people build houses. In Afghanistan you don’t need to ask permission to build a house, like here. You just do it.
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It can get cold in Afghanistan and we get a lot of snow in the high mountains. For example, last week there was nearly two metres of snow. For heating we use wood which is placed in a trench under the floor. It’s the traditional way. If you burn wood for half an hour there’ll be heat given off for 24 hours. Some people also cook in the trench. It’s actually called a tandoor, like the oven for making tandoori chicken. |
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We have three floors because it’s extremely cold in winter and very hot in the summer. So in winter we live on the ground floor with the tandoor. In the spring we move all the furniture up one floor to the middle floor and live there. In the hot summer you move again up to the top floor where it’s windy and cooler. On farms we don’t keep our animals under the house like some cultures, they have a separate barn. |
| In Afghanistan we have two different ethnic types. Half are Dari and look like me. Have a look at my picture. The other ethnic people are Pashtun and they look more Indian. We have two languages going and it’s a bit of a problem. The Pashtuns want their language for all the country, but at the moment the official language is Dari. I’ve lived 12 years of my life in Afghanistan but I can’t speak any Pashtun. It’s very difficult to learn. The government has to sort these two languages out. Pashtun and Dari cultures are actually quite similar and people sometimes marry outside their ethnic group without a problem. When a Dari marries a Pashtun, I think the children will speak both languages so maybe that’s a solution! |
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When I arrived in Cambridge in early 2006 it was very difficult for me as I couldn’t speak any English. I’d never learned any English in school. No one understood me and I couldn’t say a word… I worked really hard at learning English. I like being a student although it’s quite new for me. I never imagined that one day I’d go to England or anywhere else. I just assumed I’d live in Afghanistan and work with my parents. But life caused me to suddenly end up here.
My first impressions of England? Everything was new for me! It was difficult. I lived for over a month in a guest house and was registered at a college with some other Dari-Afghanis.
Everything was surprising here at first. The cars drove on the left, for instance. I had TV and that was not new, but I couldn’t understand a word! Now I like to watch programmes like the news to find out what’s happening in Afghanistan. I watch Big Brother, why not! It’s very interesting and I do understand a bit. Once the British viewers complained that they couldn’t understand the people in the Big Brother house! They had accents from different parts of the UK.
In my free time I’d love to find a place to play volleyball. That’s what I did with my friends in the village. We only play here in the summer holiday but I’d like to play all year. I listen to a lot of English pop music and try to catch the words. I like Leona Lewis especially. But when I’m depressed or homesick it’s Afghani music. I get homesick. There are only five or six other people I know in Cambridge like me; from my country.
Food from my country is interesting. For instance, Kabuli is a dish eaten at celebrations. Usually it’s lamb or beef with rice and vegetables. It’s very spicy. I don’t know of any Afghani restaurants in London but there might be. There’s none in Cambridge yet.
My future? I have big plans. I really want to study at CRC and learn building. I’ve worked on building sites in my country, but one day I’d really like to be an architect…
I apologise to the listeners as I think they’ll have a problem understanding my English!
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