Farima is not only a high school student, but a wife, mother, and refugee looking to give her little family a better life. Farima, 19-year-old, and her husband are from Afghanistan and have lived in Pittsburgh for over a year with their son Mosawer who they welcomed in August 2022. The couple married a year and a half before the Taliban entered their community in Afghanistan in 2021. One week after the Taliban entered their community, 17-year-old Farima and her husband left their families to begin their journey to America.
After leaving their community Farima and her husband spent a year in two different refugee camps before settling in the Carrick neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Their first refugee camp was in Germany where they stayed for six months before spending six more months at another refugee camp in New Jersey where she became pregnant with her first child, Mosawer. “[the refugee camps] were not difficult” Farima said “we had food and clothes, and everything was available at the camps… we are really grateful for the government of America they helped us and brought us from a bad situation.” Farima added “the waiting was a little difficult, we did not know how long the process would take… this was my first time apart from my family, that was a little bit hard for me, but we were safe and that was a good thing.” Farima and her husband stay in contact with their families in Afghanistan and talk to them by phone daily.
Farima was four months pregnant with her son when she and her husband arrived in Pittsburgh. In August 2022 Farima gave birth to her first child, a son named Mosawer. When Farima was asked about giving birth in America she said “I think it was easier than [in] Afghanistan because they don’t do the epidural over there. But here the doctor helped me a lot, my child birthing process was painless and easy.” Farima feels “very calm being a new mother well with the help of Hello Neighbor, a Pittsburgh nonprofit organization that helps refugee and immigrant families navigate their new lives in the city. While Farima is in class working on getting her high school diploma Mosawer is at daycare. “I’m grateful for Hello Neighbor and for the help… it’s given me a lot of comfort” Farima said.
Farima attended school up until she had to leave Afghanistan. Before the Taliban entered her community she was waiting to be accepted to a university in Afghanistan. “With the Taliban we thought it [education] was not possible for us anymore.” She is now working on her high school diploma. She started her senior year of American high school September 2022 and is set to graduate in June 2023. Farima stated that the schools here in America are more more different than Afghan schools. American schools mostly only speak English while in Afghanistan they speak languages such as Dari or Farsi. Farima noted that schools in America are more developed than they are in Afghanistan. “Here [in America] they’re working with you… giving us a lot of support and trying to find ways to teach so we can learn easily.” Farima said. When she completes high school Farima would like to become a nurse. “When I entered America, I get to complete my studies, to achieve my goals… I am happy to be here and continuing my education.”
Farima concludes “I would like to tell you that we had a life, we had an education, and we had a family back home. We left everything behind, now we are here to start from the beginning. All the Afghan families who are now in America, in different states, in different cities, and especially here in Pittsburgh are trying to make their life new, like a second life for them. They have to learn a language, they have to continue their education and also, they have to be very, very patient because a new life will take a long time [to adjust to]. It’s not easy, it will not happen in the blink of an eye. We have to be very, very patient. We have to study to earn something good and to be a good addition to society, and that is our goal. We hopefully will achieve that. We are living our second life here.”
