Occupation: Student

Country of Birth: Afghanistan

Current: St. Paul, MN

“They informed us that we would move to the U.S. very soon. I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy to hear that, that I cried a lot. I was so glad that we would get to go to a safe country to live in!”

Sanam is still building her new life here, trying to overcome all the challenges and obstacles she faces as a newcomer. Sanam’s friends back in Kabul encourage her to be successful and pursue her education. They praise Sanam for being brave enough to flee the country, while they didn’t have the opportunity to do so. 

Sanam comes from a kind and lovely family in Kabul. Despite decades of war in her country, she reminisces on how she and her family celebrated all of the Eids, Fitr, and Qurban. Her family’s tradition was to prepare the host room for all the guests who would come over during the three days of Eid. They would prepare a variety of dried fruits, local cookies, bread, candies, etc., to share. Sanam had to leave these precious moments behind and more in hopes of a better life. Her whole family did.

When Sanam was little, her dream was to become a journalist, but her father disagreed because being a journalist in Afghanistan was very difficult and even dangerous. The Taliban or other extremist groups threatened and killed journalists. When she moved to the US, her father told her: “Now you are here; you can now follow your dream to be a journalist, as you had once hoped.” 

Sanam wants to be a successful person and to serve her community. She wants to serve the US and its people as long as she lives and hopes to serve the US and Afghan women in the future.