Ramadan or Fasting is the month which is almost observed in all Abrahamic religions, with a little difference of calendar. For the Muslim world the holy month seems more cheerful, especially the acts of charity and sense of patience. On the other hands it is a reason to keep many old traditions alive, like the drum beating at Sehar, presenting perfumes at prayers, exchange of delicious food from door to door and hanging the colorful lanterns at doors and streets.
This month has a lot of attractions, for me it is maybe difficult to find which one is more important yet I’ve found one, the Trust (توکل). Just a couple of day Saleh Khan (a young Afghan refugee) contacted me regarding some of our TV reports about the Refugee camps, he invited me to come same day as they had a Quran reciting gathering for the departed souls.
This is not my first time visiting this refugee or asylum seekers camps in F6 Sector of the capital city. I had reported two or three times before regarding the general issues yet this time it was going to be special. As I arrived, Dr M. Umer Haristani received us with his friends. I never met a doctor before living in such a condition yet for his people he must be a blessing. So people of all ages were gathering there, from kids to ninety years old fellows to join the mass Quran reciting circle. The mats were laid down in the center of camps, few people were helping the job while I saw big number of women as well joining the recitation. The camera team was doing their job while I gotta chance for a chit chat with Saleh Khan and other guys.More than a hundred families of asylum seekers are sheltered here in the camps. As I was informed earlier that mostly people are professionals, before the fall of Kabul in Aug 2021 they had good jobs and their children had good education but everything changed later and there was no other way to leave the homeland like other asylum seekers.
The poetic face of Mr. Ahmed Khalid is known to me almost for a year when I first time came around, he is the head of Culture & Education committee of this camp site. I asked him about the day and night routines now in the month of Ramadan:
“We are living here under the vast sky of Allah, camps are at the very bank of a crowded road, we are aware of surviving the weather conditions with nothing to facilitate. Look here are new born as well as people over 90 years, the sun is getting hot day by day and we prepare our Sehri without any electricity, this is not easy”.
He added with a smile,” yet it is not the end, we are hopeful of the good days, this is not my 1st Ramadan here, we survived the cold freezing winter, we faced the rains flooding this sloppy ground, we will win the burning sun because we have strong faith of Trust (توکل بر خدا) in Allah, He will not leave us alone. We are thankful to Pakistan and our brotherly nation that we have this place with a calm of life security of our children”.
For me it was actually difficult to say something like bravo man you are strong enough to survive in all these circumstances or I should be sad that what a worse situation they have been through.
This was 1st time I came across a girl name Hava (حوا), always the name is known since we were kids as human history starts with it. She is a young talented girl and actually so motivated for her people, the best part is now she can speak Urdu well.
“I am here with my family and friends, I know we have left the best part of life behind, we have left the dreams behind but we are not gonna lose it. We are facing a lot of difficulties, we have to fetch the water from a faraway mosque, children have no schools, no medication, locals help us somehow it is not the life we all deserve”.
I asked her that what’s now specially in Ramadan, she smiled, “look around, having all these troubles bring us closer to each other, problem of one is a problem for all, we sort it out together, now in Ramadan we women prepare the mass Iftar for all, we put our efforts together, each woman has a duty to perform like our men do. Time is difficult yet the feeling of living together and sharing our meal with our brothers and sisters gives a comfort to my heart. We are not losing the patience, we are not losing the nerves and courage, it will be over one day.”
Little Ramin is another famous character around, he is a jack of all trades. He sang a poem for his country in Persian which teared all the eyes around. He always wish for a good school, healthy life and home comfort like he watches the local kids around… I hope one day he will find what he is looking for.
A little girl recites the last verses of the Holy Quran, she raises her little hands for Fatiha (الفاتحہ), and the time of Iftar is close now. My boys have done with footages so we were invited in a camp for Iftar. We packed up after being served with delicious Kabuli Pulao.
This is just about a couple of hours, this is just about couple of pages I write but still I am thinking that how it feels to be in asylum, to be in exile or to be a refugee.
(The writer is the Special Correspondent of SUCH Tv and an expert of Central Asian affairs. He can be reached on “This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
