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Yan Younis
Destination Unknown
In 2001, Yan Younis left war-torn Afghanistan locked in a dark container. Leaving his wife and young family behind, he could only hope that one day he would wind up in a safe country and send for them. He talks to David Lambert about his harrowing experience. |
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I come from Jelalabad, a town on the border with Peshawar in Pakistan. The area is very beautiful and mountainous. In Afghanistan we have two ethnic groups, the Pashtuns and the Dari. I am a Pashtun.
My father had a farm; he is sadly passed away now. My elder brother wanted to go into business but he stayed and looked after our many camels and sheep and goats. In fact, I have not had news of my older brothers for some time. I don’t know if they are in prison or even if they’re alive. We thought the Taliban kidnapped them, but then we discovered that they were perhaps held by local mafia gangs.
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My country has had a very difficult history. In 1979 the USSR invaded us. I was only about ten at the time. They didn’t come to Jelalabad but we used to hear about the fighting on the radio and see it on the TV.
Later when the Taliban took over, everyone was scared. Sharia law was installed and burglars had their hands cut off. The only good thing was there was very little crime – until criminals started to pose as Taliban and come in people’s houses and steal! The worst thing was that the Taliban did not allow women education.
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Like us, millions of Afghanis fled the fighting to Pakistan when the borders were open. They opened businesses and tried to live as best they could. I have a wife and five children and we could not afford to leave for a better life, and the trip was dangerous. So I decided to leave and send for the family wherever I ended up.
I paid an agent quite a lot to take me with some other refugees by bus to near the Russian border and then we travelled only by night. But he couldn’t tell us where we were heading! We just had to trust him. We travelled by road, by train and on a long sea journey locked in the container, never knowing where we were. The agent told me not to speak to anyone. I was terrified for my life. But could we trust this man who locked us in the container? Would they open it again? It was dark and cold and there was no food really, only sometimes a few slices of bread. There were no adequate toilet arrangements either. Sometimes they opened the container to let other people in. After one sea journey we reached land and the port authorities opened the container and arrested me. I only knew it was the UK because I could read the Welcome to Britain sign. They wanted to send me back. But according to the Geneva Convention they couldn’t because Afghanistan was not safe.
| I was sent to Sheffield, then Buckingham, and luckily I ended up in Cambridge. I could not speak, read or write English. My first target was to learn the language, so I went to Cambridge Regional College. I believe in education. Now I have a job as a domestic assistant. I look after two old people. It’s hard work but I enjoy it. I consider myself a lucky man; God gave me this chance to help people. In my job I have opportunities to develop more skills. Meanwhile I’m doing some hours every week to improve my writing. I believe in education, education, education! |
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Last June (2007) my wife and five children were finally allowed by the Foreign Office to join me here in Cambridge. I’d been away seven years and had only been back to Peshawar once for three weeks. When they arrived here, the children found it hard to accept me as their Dad. The eldest is eighteen and the youngest is only twelve. So it is a massive gap to close, those seven years. You could see in our body language that we weren’t used to each other. I asked my friends to help me, otherwise I’d lose my family. People ask me ‘How old is your son?’ and I’d find it hard to say. We brought no wedding certificates or birth certificates, so sometimes I don’t know this information.
I had a house from the City Council as a single man on a points system, but with my family here we need better (bigger) housing with more than three bedrooms for a large family. I’m having constant meetings with the Council. In the mornings there are seven people trying to get to the bathroom to get up and out. Since the family arrived I’ve given up using the bathroom, I shower at work!
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I have more than one job at the moment: I look after my elderly people and I see about my family. More than money, we need training and education. Doors are opening for me because I learned English a little, but I can’t advance further without more. What I want more than anything is education for my children. My eldest will hopefully do plumbing and engineering at CRC if he can improve his English first. The others are at Coleridge College and the teacher gives them extra help. It’s quite difficult for the kids to keep up. In the evening I make sure all my work is done and then help the kids with two hours extra homework I give them.
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At first they didn’t like it, of course they wanted to watch cartoons on the TV! But now they see that if they learn, school will be easier, they can use the computer and speak and make friends. It was a big challenge and at first I got really depressed, but it’s getting better now. All refugees face these problems.
My wife doesn’t work; she speaks no English and has problems with her legs. But I am starting to teach her English and she is starting classes now. She’s always calling me on the mobile because she can’t understand what people are saying. The other day she called me on my mobile. A strange man was at the door. ‘Who is it,’ I asked. ‘Is it a policeman?’ She said he was in orange. So I told her to give him the phone. I spoke to him and it was a gas man come about the boiler! This is a big step for us because in Afghanistan women stay in the home and don’t have that sort of contact.
In fact I’m happy for my wife to stay home and keep the home, why should she go out to work too? From my time in Britain, I know that women usually go out to work. But I give my money to my wife and she controls the budget better than me. If she wants to work I am not against it. She didn’t want to go to school and it was me who convinced her that she can make friends and meet people.
| Mill Road has a small community of Afghans and they all know me. I try to help newly arrived Afghanis. I can tell them about Great Britain and this great city of Cambridge. I always advise them to get educated. We have set up an association to help new arrivals. For example, when someone dies in the Afghani-Pashtun community, we may write to the family back home and let them know. The family find it hard to accept that the person is really dead because they have not seen them. So we all chip in and help to send the body back. It costs two or three thousand pounds but we raise money from as far as Peterborough or Birmingham. Tomorrow it may be you or me dead and so we do it.’’ |
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