Exchange to Change May 2017 20170524 EtC mei 2017-web | Page 15
IN THE PICTURE
In Brussels, Mamond was taken into
the Petit Chateau Reception Center
for Asylum Seekers. He was back to
square one, but this was not entirely
new to him. Due to Afghanistan’s
extensive history of war, Mamond
was born in a Pakistani refugee camp
“ I would trade all
the advantages
of living in a
developed country
for the opportunity
to live with those I
love the most and
serve my country ”
during the Soviet-Afghan war; having
only returned to his country in 2001
– after 9/11. War has been a constant
presence in his life.
The difference now was that
Mamond had a family of his own.
Leaving his wife and children behind
to apply for asylum was a strategy
to protect them; however, one
followed by a 5-month wait filled with
uncertainty, fear and distress. It took
another 11 months for his family to join
him here. Meanwhile, Mamond would
be constantly checking social media
and the news, worried that something
could have happened to his loved
ones. Today he still does that.
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To keep his mind sane, Mamond
tried to see these circumstances as
opportunities for self-improvement.
He focused on getting an education
he wouldn’t have access to in
Afghanistan. “This master programme
[at IOB] encourages me to meet my
objectives”, he explains.
Coming from a country where,
according to UNESCO, only 38.2% of
the population are literate – the vast
majority, men –, Mamond believes
that studying development will allow
him to someday greatly contribute to
Afghanistan.
“I would trade all the advantages of
living in a developed country for the
Something else happens in situations opportunity to live with those I love
like this. Asylum seekers commonly
the most and serve my country. One
experience the loss of their social
day it will be safe to go back home – I
identities, which may be even more
will be able to survive there. I was
astounding when it happens in a
born as a refugee. I have been living as
collective scale. Far away from the
a refugee. But I want to die in another
world you used to