Photos by Caitlin Cunningham
电子游戏软件社会工作学院兼职教员玛丽安娜·劳瑞，R.S.M.他当时在华盛顿特区教授一门关于移民和社会政策的课程.C. 8月15日，在数月的暴力升级之后，消息传出, the Taliban had seized control of Kabul, 标志着阿富汗政府的正式垮台，这个饱受战争蹂躏的国家20年来取得的社会和经济进步也被抹去.
Almost immediately, 喀布尔机场播放了混乱和绝望的画面，阿富汗公民冒着生命危险逃离该国. In the days that followed, thousands of men, women, and children boarded planes bound for military bases across the U.S., including the McCoy Air Force Base in Wisconsin, where Loughry had joined an emergency team formed by the U.S. Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Service.
“It was literally a humanitarian emergency,” recalled Sister Loughry, 谁因为与难民打交道的背景而被招募为志愿者. “We had no idea how many were arriving or who they were. When I arrived, the first 800 people had come to the base that day, and by the time I left, there were 13,000.”
For three weeks, Sister Loughry ran a morale and wellness center within the base, where women and children could safely congregate and play. 她和其他志愿者分发捐赠的衣服和物资——许多难民来的时候只带着衣服——并提供法律援助, 但是人口的需求很快超过了他们有限的资源.
“It was a very tough time for the population,” said Sister Loughry. “许多成年人不知所措，首先是幸存下来，然后是体制——我现在该怎么办?? How long am I going to be here?”
As Sister Loughry worked on the ground, her colleagues back at the Heights, led by Vice Provost for Global Engagement James Keenan, S.J., were discussing another way to assist. In order to build new lives in the U.S.在美国，大多数阿富汗难民将需要确保就业. 他们想知道:有学术或人道主义背景的人会有兴趣在电子游戏软件工作吗?
Through her contacts, 劳丽修女得知，一个名叫法哈德·沙里菲的阿富汗年轻人住在印第安纳州的阿特伯里营, just seven hours away from Fort McCoy. Sharifi英语流利，拥有St. Joseph’s College in Bangalore, India. Prior to his evacuation, 他在一个支持阿富汗女孩教育的国际非政府组织工作. Sister Loughry arranged to speak to him.
‘Uprooted and betrayed’
When he heard from Sister Loughry for the first time, 沙里菲正处于他生命中最艰难的过渡时期之一. Thirty-three years old, 在政府垮台之前，他一直与父母和弟弟住在赫拉特市, working with internally displaced people to provide education, local leadership, and capacity-building programs. His job responsibilities included field-work in remote villages, where he risked kidnapping and violent attack by the Taliban.
“有时候我需要回头看看是否有人在跟踪我，”他回忆说.
Fearing persecution, Sharifi and his colleagues left Herat the day before the city fell, 他们是8月15日占领喀布尔机场后站在机场外的数千人中的一员. 沙里菲在机场大门外的人行道上睡了几个晚上, 经常被塔利班警卫向空中发射的枪声惊醒. On August 23, 他获准进入机场，登上了一架飞往阿拉伯联合酋长国的飞机. 9月11日，他抵达阿特伯里军营，并将在那里住上三个月.
Looking back, Sharifi believes he had no choice but to leave Afghanistan, a fact that weighs heavily on him.
“当你无法控制生活中发生的事情时, it is always stressful,” he said. “像许多其他被疏散的人一样，我同时感到被连根拔起、被背叛和受压迫. We in the Afghan community, especially the youth and the new generation, feel like we’ve been thrown back more than 100 years, 就像所有有意义的东西都失去了，剩下的对我们许多人来说只有希望.”
Building a new life
For a month after their first phone call, Sister Loughry and Sharifi spoke daily by phone, hammering out a plan to bring Sharifi to BC. 社会工作学院院长高塔姆·亚达马(Gautam Yadama)为沙里菲提供了一个职位 Research Program on Children and Adversity, but there were other details to consider.
“除了工作，还有住房、衣服、食物和捐款的后勤工作,” said Sister Loughry. “我得到了英国广播公司系统的大力支持，一旦我把他们拉进来，每个人都发挥了作用. 人们不断给我打电话说，‘我可以做这个’，或者‘我们可以做那个’.’”
St. Ignatius Parish in Chestnut Hill also provided extensive support, 通过其长期的ARRUPE项目(利用教区能源协助难民重新安置)，介入协调对沙里菲必需品的捐赠。. 工作人员和教区志愿者努力安排沙里菲的房租和水电费，并提供食物卡，直到他的第一份工资到达.
12月3日，劳瑞修女和一个来自栗树山的寄宿家庭在洛根机场迎接莎莉菲. 他背着一个背包，里面装着东西，准备开始新的生活.
“I’ll never forget that moment,” said Sister Loughry. “He trusted us to get on that plane and come to Boston. 我想这对任何人来说都是难以置信的，但他做到了.”
自从来到不列颠哥伦比亚省，沙里菲全身心地投入到工作中，让自己的大脑保持忙碌. In his new position, 他正在帮助调整为特定难民群体设计的项目，以便这些项目可以用来帮助阿富汗难民.
“这和我在阿富汗的工作很相似，因为我在社会工作领域，我要和家庭和社区一起工作,” he said. “I’m learning a lot.”
Outside of his job, Sharifi希望他能成为更广泛的英国广播公司社区成员的资源，他们有兴趣听到他的故事，了解阿富汗的政治和文化景观. On February 2, he’ll join Sister Loughry and Fr. 他的第一次公开活动:“关于难民工作和阿富汗:对法哈德·沙里菲的采访。.” (Members of the BC community can attend the event in person or via Zoom.)
成为一名难民让沙里菲对其他流离失所者的经历有了更深的了解, 这使他更加坚定了为确保全人类免于压迫而努力的决心. 虽然他想念家乡的家人，但他仍然对未来充满希望，无论是在BC还是在其他地方.
“Sometimes, 当我的阿富汗同事和朋友给我发短信，告诉我国内的情况，以及他们本来就有限的自由受到的限制, I feel numb,” he said. “但我可以肯定的是，艰苦使我们更强大，更能适应环境. 我们将再次崛起，繁荣昌盛，尽自己的一份力量，让这个世界变得更美好.”
Alix Hackett | University Communications / January 2022
Farhad Sharifi on the day of his arrival in Boston, at the St. Ignatius Parish office.