In one bright apartment in a suburb Nea Smyrna now lives the family of the torn apart by a bomb 15-year old boy from Afghanistan. The apartment was given to them by the church after losing their boy on March 28, 2010 in the Patisiya neighborhood and their 10-year-old daughter lost her sight. On the walls pictures are hanging of a family of immigrants from Afghanistan. The father Muhammad Iisa and the mother Zahra are taking care of their daughter Freste, which completely lost her eyesight in her left eye and with the right she sees blury. "We have to make her transplant new pupil," said the father with the help of a translator from the Afghan community in Greece.
”The little girl does not know that her brother Hamidolah died. They have told her that he had gone to Norway to his brothers,"said the interpreter, Mr. Mohammed. The Nadzafi family many children - besides Hamidolah and Freste they have four daughters and two boys. One is married and lives in Afghanistan, two are in Iran, and the fourth in Australia, and the two boys live in Norway. They also have grandchildren and as they say Afghans marry when they are young.
The Nadzafi family leaves Afghanistan because of the Taliban. Up to 1995, they live well. The father Muhammad Iisa was a teacher and director in the school that he founded. He is a successor of his father's deed, who established the first provincial school in Afghanistan. Later, Muhammad made girls schhol for the girls from the area. Recently the news reached his ears that girls' school was burned down by the Taliban. "I was very sad when I learned it. I love that school. Unfortunately hundreds of schools in Afagnistan were burned down and dozens were closed. The strange thing is that the government is not doing anything about it. I learned that these days there were demonstrations in order to open schools in my area where more than 2000 children have studied.
The mother Zahra has taken care for the house and the children. "The women in Afghanistan are not working," explains Mohammed. "We did not have any economic problems and I didn’t want to leave Afghanistan. But in 1995 I need to get out when they killed my brother and started to threaten my life, "says Muhammad. In 1996 the family moved from Afghanistan, but only their daughter remained as she was already married. Originally they went to Pakistan, where Hamidolah was born. They do not stay there for long, because they can not find jobs. Then they go into Iran.
In Iran, their life was not easy, but Muhammad finds work in a warehouse and became a member of an organization of solidarity for the refugees. In 2000 their daughter Freste was born, and two years later, Muhammad decided to return to Afghanistan because the Taliban have "fallen". "There I remained four years and worked as a principal at my school. But everything changed in 2005. The Taliban threatened to kill me again, so I left and returned to Iran, "Muhammad recalled.
In 2009 the Nadzafi family decided to go illegal again in Turkey. On 13 September the same year, he crossed with his family by boat to the Greek island Mitylene. For about 13 days they remain in the center for refugees on the island. Before leaving the center they received notice from the police, that they have the right to remain in Greece, 30 days.
At the end of September they arrive in Athens, where they rent a room for the small sum of 300 euros per month. "I had money with me. My children who are in Australia and Norway help me. The first thing I did was to submit documents for shelter, but they didn’t gave me. My wife wanted to leave for Norway to live near our sons, but I insisted to stay in Greece and start everything from the beginning. Who could have imagined what our destiny had prepared for us” says bitterly Muhammad Iisa to a reporter for newspaper Vima.
He likes Greece to live in and grow up his two young children. But at the fateful night the father was with his friends and did not followed his wife and children for a walk, which they make every night. "We were returning home," says his wife Zahra, "when Freste saw a bag. I heard her that she cried Hamidolah. I told them: "Do not come closer to the strange bag. Leave it and go. It is not ours.” But before I finish, I heard shots. Not for a second I forget that night. It is constantly in my thoughts and it hurts me. My son was more attached to me than all the other guys. He was my weakness. Every night I see him in my dreams ... "
Both parents are praying for Freste to recover. "The first thing I dream about is my daughter to be able to see. The second is that one day I am able to see all my children together and hold them and calm down. Otherwise, I continue to live. Unfortunately, this is life ...” Zahra continues with tears in her eyes.
After what happened Muhammad Iisa and his family have received documents for refugees. "Now I feel connected to this country because I lost my son here. Thanks to the Greeks, that helped me in these difficult times and I ask the state not to forget us when people start to forget ...” Muhammad Iisa reveals his own dreams:" I want my daughter to recover, to create a foundation on behalf of the my son and to get a job, no matter what. I am determined to fight ... "
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