Nobody would acknowledge that I am a strong person: Sadaf

How long have you been in Delhi?
I have been here for 25 days. Not long.

What are you studying?
I am an undergraduate student at Delhi University. I study commerce.

Why did you chose to study in India?
I feel comfortable in India. My mother and I came to Delhi last year. My mother is a beautician and we had come to do a certificate course from a salon here. Later, I got a scholarship from the Indian government to come and study here. A degree from India will help me get a job anywhere in the world because the quality of education is excellent here. India is also close to Afghanistan geographically, so my mother can visit easily.

Are you enjoying your course or do you find it difficult?
The most difficult thing has been the language. I have an exam in 15 days for which I am studying very hard, but I have problems with the English language. If I can’t clear the exam, I’ll have to return to Kabul. My hostel won’t allow me to stay. I have picked up a little English, so that’s good for me. I think I can pass my exams if I study very hard. My goal is to be able to speak English perfectly in three months.

Have you made friends here?
I have four or five friends in college and many more in the hostel where I board. My friends from my hostel are from different parts of the world. There are Afghan girls too in the hostel, but we are not very close; if we become friends, we won’t learn English. My friends from college are mostly Indians. They are very intelligent and help me with my coursework. My teachers speak very fast, so my friends help me take notes.

What do you like most about Delhi?
I like the security in Delhi and the fact that people here are very friendly. I feel safe here. I can go anywhere, leave the house without a companion. In Afghanistan, I must always go with my mother. There’s no security and there are bomb blasts all the time, near my school and my home.

What about the food here? Have you acquired a taste for it?
I find Indian food very spicy. Dal is very nice, though. And I like to eat the chowmein that is sold on the street across my hostel. In Afghanistan, we have very simple food. My favourite is the bolani back home. It’s made of potato, vegetables and pastry. It’s delicious. My mother and I used to cook it together.

What do you miss about Afghanistan?
I only have my mother there and I miss her all the time. We would share ideas and I could ask my mother for guidance on everything. She would show me the way.

Here, I have no one to share my thoughts with.

Where is your father?
About 12 years ago, Kabul was like a forest with dangerous animals, but the animals were human beings. There was no security and no law. When I was six years old, my father went to his relative’s house. He had a fight with some people who attacked him with logs. My father got hurt.

At first, he didn’t go to the doctor because there wasn’t a good doctor left in Kabul. Later, he went to a hospital in Pakistan. He died within nine months of his return. All my life, I have missed my father. He was a good man and I loved him.

What would your father have felt about about your decision to move to India?
He would be proud of me because I am a strong girl. When my father died and until the time I came to Delhi, every day I would feel bad. I would cry every day because people saw me as a poor girl in Kabul. Nobody would acknowledge that I am a strong person. Their pitying looks bothered me. When I came to India, I felt good because here no one saw me that way.

What do you want to do after you graduate?
I want to help Afghan girls who don’t have fathers. I want to run an organisation for these girls. I shall provide them with teachers of international standard, security and make them capable of joining jobs that will get them good salaries. And I’ll open the organisation in my father’s name.
Glyn Peterson

City Seekers: A series on migrants in urban India