A Journey From Afghanistan: Abbas Nazari at TEDxEQChCh

Hello everyone. It's great to be here. You know, great to be at the stage of my old auditorium, my school and, you know, what an honor it is to be on this stage at TEDx. And, like everyone else here, I'm here. I'm a story teller, some people call me an artist. And I'm a story teller. And I'm here to share with you my story. You see, when I first got asked to do a TED talk, I Googled it to see what it's all about, and one of the speakers came up and she said that she was fine until she got up on stage and then she saw the timer and then she noticed that it was ticking down and it reminded her very much of a bomb. (Laughter) You see I'm from Afghanistan and that's the last thing I want to be reminded of. But anyway, earlier this year I went back to Afghanistan with my father and this photo was taken from behind our house, in a tiny little village of Joghori. And that's sunset on the black mountains on the back. In this next photo is down on the valley floor in front of my house and that's me with one of the young ones there. And this photo was taken right there, that green door, green door to my house that I grew up in. You see, back in 2001 when the Taliban were at the height of their power everything changed. What do you see, what do you think, when you think of the word "Afghanistan"? What comes into your mind? Soldiers, bombs, death, improvised explosive devises, just like the ones that were used to kill 5 of our brave troops only 2 weeks ago -- but this is my Afghanistan. This is what comes into my mind every time I think of home. So back in 2001 when the Taliban took over when they were at the height of their power, life was bad. This didn't exist anymore. All concepts of basic human rights were thrown out the window. Women were forced to stay at home, stay uneducated, or restricted from teaching. Men were forced to grow beards and simply accept the judgment of the local commander. You know, whatever that may be. Life as we knew it had changed. So there we were in 2001 -- me and my family being part of the ethnic minority, the Khazars, we were persecuted and executed. We were seen by the Taliban and their people as a tumor that needed to be cut and gotten rid of. For half time entertainment at local football matches my people were brought on onto the field and *** to death. Education en mass for the price of disobedience. And so, as you can imagine, my father made the decision for our family to leave. Seek a fresh start, somewhere new. A new beginning. And that new beginning was going to be Australia. So we set out in spring of 2001. Under the cover of night, we arrived in Pakistan, in Karachi. And, already life was different and I was in the next country. Our family stayed in a one bedroom apartment while our traveling papers were organized. And I celebrated my 7th birthday in Pakistan. Indonesia was going to be the next step. See I remember the journey clearly because it was the first time I boarded a plane and I can tell you now I was not Star Alliance member. Not in New Zealand. Cramped into an old rickety plane I couldn't understand how we managed to stay in one piece when we arrived in Indonesia. And oh man, what a difference you know the heat, the humidity, the bananas, the neverending expanse of water. Where the hell where we? But anyway, we stayed in Indonesia for 2 months while once again traveling papers organized. And you know we had to find a ship, someone to get us to New Zealand. I'm not in New Zealand at this time obviously, Australia, we didn't even know this tiny island nation even existed. Then one night, you know, we'd been here for 2 months and then one night, I was started awake by my mother and she said "We're leaving." And me, being unaware, not knowing, I was 7 at the time, and anyways I was, "OK, you know, let's leave." We were leaving tonight, oh wow. So I quickly grabbed on to as many clothes as I could I checked them on trying to save some space in my bag and we were hurried off onto a bus in the middle of the night. This was all pitch black darkness so you couldn't see anything In the middle of the night, we were rushed off to port, port Merak in Indonesia. And, in Port Merak we caught up with some of the other Khazars families, who were also escaping the atrocities back home. But we couldn't see anyone we couldn't distinguish number or what not. So there we were hurried along into the belly of this unknown ship and we couldn't understand -- we knew we were at the port because we could hear crashing of the waves, but we didn't know where we were, we just hurried along to the ship you know, what sort of ship is this? How big it is? The next day I got the chance to truly explore this vessel you know, the MV Palapa 2 as it was known. and I hate to think what happened to Palapa 1. The MV Palapa 2 was a fishing vessel and just like fish, 438 Afghans, mostly Afghans, were crammed into a space that was meant to hold 40. And I remember, I remember needing to go to the bathroom when I discovered that it was simply a hole, in the deck that ran straight into the ocean, I didn't need to go to the bathroom anymore. But anyway, on the second day, the engine failed and that night a storm hit and here you know, this was the scariest moment of the whole journey. Not for me, but for everyone, as a kid, you know, I thought I was on a big adventure. But put yourselves in my father's position, he thought that he was offering us a chance, his family a chance at a fresh start and now, in this situation when the most, when our fate was at the mercy of the waves he thought that he had condemned us to death. The men all reached the lowest point of their lives at this point. And still thinking back at it today I think, how the hell did we survive that night? Because it was a miracle the men at that point we were praying, praying to God that please save us you know, if we're to drown tonight, please wash our bodies on some shore so we can be buried on land. But the next day, it eventuated and a small plane flew overhead and you know as you can imagine there's a sense of hope that this plane would see us and we would be rescued but nothing happened. And the one man who's sitting at the back of the auditorium thought he could speak some English could write the letters S O S and put it up so that the next time a flight pass they will see us and it did but again nothing happened. Morning turned into evening and all sense of hope was lost again. But that evening God heard our prayers for out of the horizon came the MV Tampa -- MV Tampa is a Norwegian cargo ship heading from Fremantle in Wiston Australia to Singapore and had picked up our distress signal that the captain had put up. And that's our little boat right there anchored next to the MV Tampa. And so as the last man got out of the Palapa, the Palapa sank taking with it everything that we brought from Afghanistan and Pakistan to start our new lives elsewhere. It sank and is now at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Here we wanted to go We slept in containers, empty containers and we prayed on deck, and we wanted to know we wanted to go to Australia to Christmas Island because it was under Australian control and hopefully here we would be processed and sent to Australia this was it, here we are, the last stepping stone, we're going to go. But Australia at this time was in the midst of an election and policy had changed -- John Howard closed the doors on Australia to further his campaign. And so Captain Rinnan, a brave man, a risk taker, he chose, he headed straight for Christmas Island but you know within 10 kilometers of Christmas Island we were forced back by SAS troops. And under pressure from his own bosses Renner could not hold us anymore because he needed his freight to Singapore. He could not be a host for us anymore. And so we changed, we were transferred onto the HMS Minora, a navy frigate. And this was a lot better for we had bedding and shower facilities, but still we had no sense of direction we had, we were just waiting out on the ocean with nowhere to go. While we were on there, 9/11 happened but we were unaware. Because New Zealand put up a tent. Who or what is a New Zealand? (Laughter) That's what we were thinking but we didn't care for New Zealand was the end of our 6 month journey from that little village you saw at the first picture. So we arrived in New Zealand 28th of September 2001 and at the tarmac of Auckland Airport we felt home. For the first time, we felt on solid ground and so we transferred to Mangere Refugee Center and from there we've been living in Christchurch for the past 11 years. That's me and my dad right now when we went back this Saturday to Afghanistan and to think where we've come from and where I am at right now where I'm standing on this stage today is a story of hope and I want to tell all of you this is my message to all of you. We're all going through a tough time right now this country right now is the last land mass to be colonized. Everyone in this auditorium is either a migrant, a refugee, or a descendant of one. It's forever enriching its identity with people from all over the world. And so if I, in final remark, regards I just wanted to tell you we're all going through a tough time you know, never lose hope because there are other people going through tougher times. We all have the power to make a difference as I graduate and head off from this stage and go to University down the road I wonder, "How can I make a difference?" But the reality is we all have the power to make a difference. And that can be as easy as listening to someone tell their story. Thank you. (Applause) (Moderator) No, don't go, don't go,stay, we gotta talk a bit about your family. (Applause) (Moderator) The word "Tampa" looms very large in history and so to have met somebody who came here from the Tampa is a huge privilege. You asked, "Who or what is New Zealand?" The simple answer is "You are!" and you didn't come on your own. and so we would like to acknowledge family and friends in the audience if they would like to stand please? You're out there. Thank you very much indeed. (Applause)