AN AFGHAN family which resettled in Bromsgrove has expressed its thanks to the town for its support since fleeing the Taliban.
Their words come on the second anniversary of the fall of Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul.
Parwiz Amiri, who worked as a nurse practitioner for the British Army for 13 years, fled the regime as he feared for his life.
He, his wife Fawzia and daughter Behishta made a desperate dash to Kabul Airport.
His wife Fawzia said she went back to Kabul because the situation at the airport was too dangerous, but after sleeping rough overnight, Parwiz and Behishta, then just four years old, were eventually allowed through the gate.
While there, they said they saw people fall to their deaths taking desperate risks to flee and avoid being killed by the Taliban.
With the Taliban searching for Parwiz, Fawzia lived in hiding, regularly moving house and being forced to burn all her husband’s documents and military uniform.
She wore a hijab on her face to slip past the Taliban and eventually got on a plane to Pakistan.
Fawzia then had mixed emotions – she was devastated not being with her family but pleased to be out of Afghanistan.
The family’s prayers were answered when Bromsgrove and Redditch Welcome Refugees (BRWR) raised £2,000 to pay for her to leave Pakistan, after a gruelling nine months of separation, the couple were reunited.
Fawzia said: “Nine months is like nine years for me – these were very dark days, sometimes even now I have nightmares and I wake up and all of my legs and my hands are shaking.”
Parwiz described their reunion as ‘very emotional’ and said he remembered his wife and daughter crying with happiness and hugging each other.
Parwiz, 35, now works in a care home in the town, has won an award for his English studies and hopes to work as a hospital nurse.
Fawzia, 43, a qualified nurse in Afghanistan, is studying English and is hoping to find work in hairdressing or cooking, while Behishta is now at school.
Fawzia added: “It’s an amazing feeling to be here, I can’t thank the people in Bromsgrove enough for helping us.
“It feels like a dream, I’m very happy and life is very good.”
