Occupation: Student

Country of Birth: Afghanistan

Current: Minneapolis, MN

“I had missed my father so much that I stayed awake till midnight to be sure he would join us. When my father reunited with us, we heard that our airplane had landed and we would move to the U.S. very soon.”

Zahra mourns her late Grandmother, Bas Beigum, who passed away shortly after their arrival in Minnesota. She remembers all the moments when her grandmother told stories of their ancestors, from what she remembered of her grandmother or grandfather to when she raised Zahra and her four siblings as her granddaughters and grandsons.  

Born in Dasht-e-Barchi, Afghanistan, where most residents were ethnic Hazara like her, Zahra felt that Kabul was an excellent place to live until the Taliban took the government. Under the Taliban, Afghan girls were not allowed to go to school, and Zahra was scared of going out of her home. 

The day the Taliban took over Kabul, she remembers that her relatives came to their home and locked the front door to ensure that they were safe and nobody could get in. Zahra and her siblings climbed over the wall to get in and out of the house. 

Her relatives drove Zahra and her family to the airport to leave Afghanistan to move to America. They were there for three days with very little to eat or drink. 

She spent three months in Germany and four months in New Mexico before resettling in Minnesota. At first, it was difficult, but after some time, it became easier to manage her new life here. 

Zahra aspires to become a police officer and help Afghan people. Her hope for the future is that there are no more wars in Afghanistan so she can someday return there and reunite with her family.