From Afghan With Love
(Sing this first sentence to the beat of Absolutely by the band Nine Days)
This is the story of a boy, who cried a river and drowned the whole world, though he looked so sad in photographs, he really really is, a piece of shit.
I was recently talking with an amazing German woman who moved to Los Angeles to start a new life. She randomly told me this crazy story about how her family had the opportunity to adopt a young Afghan refugee who fled his country to avoid death with nothing but the clothes on his back.
Characters:
Gretta: My friend
Mom: Gretta’s Mom
Dad: Gretta’s Dad
Abdul: Afghan Boy
Lina: Afghan Boy’s Girlfriend
Here’s the story:
Gretta’s parents are extremely religious in Germany, going to church often, taking in animals that need shelter and acting with compassion in everything they do. They also live in one of the wealthiest towns in Germany. Gretta explained that one day at church, the pastor had made a plea asking members to take in an Afghan refugee that needed a place to live. Gretta’s parents thought it over and decided that they had the perfect home for Abdul. He was only 16 years old and had this welcoming smile they loved. They were more than delighted.
As they brought him into their house, he began to fit right in. He would cook and clean for them, teach them about his culture and they would teach them theirs. One day, he had told them that he found a German girl that he was falling for. They were happy to hear it and welcomed her too.
He was very persuasive in getting people to do what he wanted. The girl was 19 years old and was a runaway herself, living on the streets until she met Abdul. He was a Muslim and so, she went through the conversion process to become everything he wanted. He asked her to wear clothing from head to toe to cover her body and she did. They got married fast and the parents were ecstatic. They were curious though how he was able to get married at such a young age and they found out he was actually 19.
One day when Mom was alone with Lina, Lina told Mom that she was very upset. She said that she was being raped often by Abdul and that she had bruises all over her body. She stripped off her clothing and to Mom’s horror, she had bruises covering her from head to toe. Mom confronted Abdul about what had been going on and he stated that because they were married, he could do anything he wanted to her as she was his property.
Mom was distraught and told him that is not accepted here. He agreed and acted as though he would stop. He never did and Mom ended up calling the police on him. He fled but, knew many Afghan’s in the neighborhood who started threatening the family. This became very scary for these nice people who started to live in fear.
The police ended up finding Abdul and put him on trial. Mom took the stand along with Lina to tell the tales of what Abdul was doing. Abdul ended up getting sent to jail for a few years. Afterwards, Lina started receiving death threats from Abdul’s friends that were furious. She left the house one night and was never heard from again. After Abdul got out of jail, he was deported back to Afghanistan.
Recently, the Americans left the country, getting all the American troops out. Abdul called Dad and asked for his help. Dad declined and that was the last time he had heard from Abdul.
Does everything happen for a reason? Maybe. Is being too nice a bad thing, Maybe. Was Ghandi really non violent? Maybe.
