When Colonel Dr. Nesar Ahmed Hamraz enlisted to join the Afghan military, his dream was to play a role in creating a safe space for his family, a place where his children will grow up in safety.
This was after the coalition forces led by the United States overran the Taliban, and promised to set the Central Asian country on a positive trajectory. Or so they thought.
At that time, Hamraz was newly married with one child; his firstborn daughter Sahar, who is now 21. Together with his wife Dr Melinda Hamraz, they later had three more children.
For 20 years, the trained medical doctor did much of his military service at the hospital; treating servicemen and teaching in a medical school.
The close-knit family lived in relative safety until last year, when the Taliban retook Afghanistan as the coalition troops ended their 20-year stay, and overthrew the government.
"We all knew that we were in danger. I was in the military and, most importantly, my wife had been working as an activist, advocating for the education of the girl child, which is something that the Taliban despise," said Hamraz, straddled by his family in their temporary home in Kacyiru, a Kigali suburb.
Hamraz's instinct was to immediately evacuate his family to a safer place. Already, even before the country totally fell to the Taliban, Melinda was receiving threats to her life from sympathizers of the Taliban. They frowned upon her activism.
When the Taliban took over in August 2021, the following day the family fled to neighbouring Pakistan. But threats followed them there.
"It was simply not safe. We hardly slept because we felt the Taliban would still hound us there," said Hamraz, with his wife and firstborn son Mohammad next to him on a couch, nodding in unison.
The family then tried to contact different aid agencies out of Afghanistan to help them find safety somewhere far, but to no avail.
Eventually, an American aid worker who had worked with Melinda worked her contacts and they were eventually presented with a proposal to be evacuated to a country in Africa.
"We had never heard about Rwanda. Immediately we were told, we searched the country on the internet and we found some good things... we accepted and plans to relocate us to Rwanda kicked off," said Hamraz.
According to Dr. Nesar Ahmed Hamraz , for the past eight months, they have blended in well, making several friends
The family arrived in Rwanda on September 22, 2021, and were initially settled in a guest house located in Kiyovu area.
"That night, every member of this family was able to have sound sleep which we had not had in weeks; we all connected with this country... it was so welcoming," he added, looking at the rest of his family members as if seeking approval.
They all nodded in unison.
They have since moved to a much bigger apartment in Kacyiru.
According to Hamraz, for the past eight months, they have blended in well, making several friends.
His firstborn daughter Sahar has since found work at a gas distribution outlet, while his son Mohammad, who speaks fluent English, is working as an intern at a local IT firm. He wants to become a software engineer while his 21-year-old sister wants to read psychology.
"Unfortunately, we are not going to be here for long; we came here on a temporary visa as they process our documents to move to the United States," Hamraz says, adding that they recently got approval to kick-start their relocation process.
Employment opportunity
He said that before they were contacted with information that their relocation had been approved, he had started processing his medical practice license so that he can start working.
Already, he was eying two opportunities; either to work in a hospital or teach medicine at a local medical school.
"We both applied for license - me and my wife - and my request was approved by the medical council (Rwanda Medical and Dental Council). But I have had to put job hunting on hold because we do not know how much longer we are staying in Rwanda," he says.
The wife's request was complicated by the fact that even back home, she was into activism after medical school and had not practiced, so she needed to secure a recommendation from her home country to be allowed to practice here.
"We shall greatly miss this country. It is already home to us. Everyone is so friendly," said Melinda, speaking in Persian and translated for by her son.
The downside for her, she says, was to get schools for her children, saying that they could only attend private schools because of language barrier, which was an expensive option for them.
"We are hoping they will be able to continue with their education once we get to the US," she says, adding that they have been taking some courses online.
Asked if she feels her activism to ensure more girls in her country go to school had been in vain given the prevailing conditions, she said to the contrary, it has paid off, albeit in a small way.
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"Yes, the Taliban are repressive, especially against women, but there are those who managed to go to school because of my effort and there is a bit of resistance to their repression now more that was the case over 20 years ago, when they had initially ruled our country," she added.
Rwanda is already hosting the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA), a girls-only boarding school that was evacuated from Afghanistan following the takeover by the Taliban.
About Afghani conflict
The United States launched the war in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that struck the cities of New York and Washington DC. The conflict would last two decades and spanned four U.S. presidencies, becoming the longest war in American history.
By August 2021, the war began to come to a close with the Taliban regaining power two weeks before the United States was set to withdraw all troops from the region.
The Taliban, which also refers to itself by the name of its state, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is an Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, and jihadist political movement in Afghanistan.
