The night the Taliban took our city, Kabul, last month, no one in the orphanage could sleep. The 45 children here were restless and anxious, so we came together, heads resting on each other’s laps and arms draped around shoulders, as we began our wait to find out what will become of us. Earlier that day, we watched from the window as people started escaping. There was a big rush in the streets. But where would we go if we tried to run?
I’m an orphan and was brought here at the age of five. Now 22, and studying at university while I continue to live and work at the orphanage, I’m like a mother to the children here, who are between five and 16 and call this place home. Ever since the Taliban took over last month, we have been in grave danger; the orphanage is a prime target because we're defenceless and the Taliban can do what they want to us. Horrifying things are happening to normal people who have loving families, so we fear they will definitely happen to us because we have no one to protect us and nowhere to go.
We’re terrified of being abducted, sold into sexual slavery and forcefully married off to Taliban fighters at gunpoint. That has already happened in some households – to girls as young as 14 – even in households where they have people to take care of them. The orphanage’s children are particularly vulnerable, and they’re my family. I can’t let the young boys be recruited for the frontline or the young girls get stolen away and raped – or worse.
I fear I won’t ever be able to go back to studying, and the other girls will never get to finish their education. We’ve been told girls and women have to abandon school and university ‘until further notice’. Our lives and our dignity are in danger and girls have no future here. I sit and imagine the abuse that’s waiting for us. We need saving before our lives are plunged into even more darkness.
Horrifying things are happening to normal people who have loving families, so we fear they will definitely happen to us because we have no one to protect us and nowhere to go.
These children have been raised with so much hope for their lives, but now I can’t promise them any future. Usually they watch cartoons, but ever since the Taliban took Kabul, they’ve been glued to the news, crowded around the TV together, trembling. Tamana and Gulsoum are eight-year-old girls and they hide while watching the news. They ask me questions about what the Taliban will do to them, which I don’t expect from any child. Ahmed is 15 and was badly shaken by a recent explosion at Kabul airport (a bomb attack claimed by the regional Islamic State group). He’s completely changed since then and now he’s addicted to the news.
I’ve had to leave the orphanage to get groceries and I’ve seen the Taliban up close. They have guns. When you see them, you can feel the killing and torture. It’s in their faces. It’s terrifying and I prefer not to go out.
But the more days that pass under Taliban rule, the more we lose hope. Evil groups always see vulnerable people as prime targets. We’re afraid for our lives. We want the basic human right to be able to live in a safe environment and enjoy the bright futures we all dreamt of having. We’re calling for help; to get us out of Afghanistan in any way possible, because there’s nothing here for us any more.
We don’t have any documentation, but we’re just as desperate to leave and as entitled to be somewhere safe as those who do. I hope each child can be evacuated. We are a big family with big hopes and it’s our dream to end up somewhere together where we can get on with our lives. I believe in humanity – and hope the world notices us.
If you have leads that could help evacuate Rabia’s orphanage, please contact anna.silverman@ graziamagazine.co.uk. If you would like to help the effort to evacuate vulnerable Afghans, please visit www.pledge.to/airlift, or donate to the International Rescue Committee.
*Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect Rabia and the children.
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