The one with ‘the knife’…

During the two passed years of my studies in Munich, I had the chance to meet a lot of people coming from Syria or Afghanistan, who today I can call my friends.  One of them, coming from Afghanistan had to face a different reality, comparing to what those from Syria experienced. He still belongs to a group of people defined as asylum-seekers. Asylum-seekers are people who have moved across an international boarder in search of protection under the Convention of UNHCR, but whose refugees’ status has not been yet determined (Anonymous, 2012). Afghans have to deal with special regulations to get a refugee status in Germany, whereas the growing amount of asylum-seekers in the western countries made refugees such a burning political issue (Gibney,2004).As the government said,Afghans are economic migrants and have no right to stay in Germany. 

He came here because of his fear against ‘Taliban’. He can speak English and hence he has been working for the American Forces in Afghanistan: The reason why ‘Taliban’ was searching for him. When I first met him, I thought he came here for financial reasons, but after getting to know him, I realized that his family wasn’t rich, but not poor either. As he told me: “We had a normal life! The only reason I came here, was fucking Taliban!”.

A year ago, when I was getting to know him, he was distant. Once we got to know each other better, he shared a lot of stories with me about his life here, the life he had before coming here and the struggles he had to face in his way to Germany. The story I will never forget was the one with ‘the knife’...

Once, he told me that the previous day, going back to the refugees’ residence, he saw a man with a knife targeting his cousin, with the excuse that his music was too loud. After he managed to protect his cousin, he called the police and explained the situation. I perceived myself not only being shocked listening to this story, but also being sad from the way he was explaining it to me. It seemed as if this would be a normal situation for him to come home to, like this was happening every day. 

I heard this story half a year ago and I am sure I will never forget it. I cannot even imagine what he has experienced during his life, being able not to get afraid of a man with a knife targeting one of his family members.
That’s just one of the many stories that shocked me, stories about bombs near his house threatening his siblings or stories about family members being victims of the big group of Taliban and even being killed trying just to have a normal life.

Is this the freedom the government is talking about? Were all these bombs proofs of a safe everyday life as a citizen of Afghanistan?

References

Anonymous. 2012. What is Forced Migration? – Forced Migration Online. Creative Commons,England http://www.forcedmigration.org/about/about-us [Access: 04.11.2017]

Gibney, Mathew J. 2004. The Ethics and Politics of Asylum: Liberal Democracy and the Response to Refugees. Cambridge, University Press

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugee-crisis-germany-turning-its-back-on-asylum-seekers-with-border-controls-cah-seizures-and-a6829801.html [Access: 03.11.2017]