WEBVTT 00:00:07.993 --> 00:00:10.653 Hello everyone. It's great to be here. 00:00:10.653 --> 00:00:12.443 You know, great to be at the stage of my old auditorium, 00:00:12.443 --> 00:00:15.315 my school and, you know, 00:00:15.315 --> 00:00:18.713 what an honor it is to be on this stage at TEDx. 00:00:18.713 --> 00:00:21.926 And, like everyone else here, I'm here. 00:00:21.926 --> 00:00:26.138 I'm a story teller, some people call me an artist. 00:00:26.138 --> 00:00:28.276 And I'm a story teller. 00:00:28.276 --> 00:00:33.007 And I'm here to share with you my story. 00:00:33.007 --> 00:00:36.314 You see, when I first got asked to do a TED talk, 00:00:36.314 --> 00:00:40.383 I Googled it to see what it's all about, and 00:00:40.383 --> 00:00:42.458 one of the speakers came up and she said that 00:00:42.458 --> 00:00:44.408 she was fine until she got up on stage 00:00:44.408 --> 00:00:46.542 and then she saw the timer and then she noticed 00:00:46.542 --> 00:00:49.505 that it was ticking down and it reminded her 00:00:49.505 --> 00:00:50.827 very much of a bomb. 00:00:50.827 --> 00:00:53.292 (Laughter) 00:00:53.292 --> 00:00:56.249 You see I'm from Afghanistan and 00:00:56.249 --> 00:01:01.029 that's the last thing I want to be reminded of. 00:01:01.029 --> 00:01:04.841 But anyway, earlier this year I went back to Afghanistan 00:01:04.841 --> 00:01:07.625 with my father and this photo was taken from 00:01:07.625 --> 00:01:11.692 behind our house, in a tiny little village of Joghori. 00:01:11.692 --> 00:01:17.241 And that's sunset on the black mountains on the back. 00:01:17.241 --> 00:01:20.426 In this next photo is down on the valley floor in front of my house 00:01:20.426 --> 00:01:24.025 and that's me with one of the young ones there. 00:01:24.025 --> 00:01:26.692 And this photo was taken right there, that green door, 00:01:26.692 --> 00:01:31.956 green door to my house that I grew up in. 00:01:31.956 --> 00:01:34.976 You see, back in 2001 when the Taliban were at 00:01:34.976 --> 00:01:39.838 the height of their power everything changed. 00:01:39.838 --> 00:01:42.376 What do you see, what do you think, 00:01:42.376 --> 00:01:44.409 when you think of the word "Afghanistan"? 00:01:44.409 --> 00:01:46.408 What comes into your mind? 00:01:46.408 --> 00:01:50.875 Soldiers, bombs, death, improvised explosive devises, 00:01:50.875 --> 00:01:52.908 just like the ones that were used to kill 5 of our brave 00:01:52.908 --> 00:01:57.339 troops only 2 weeks ago -- but this is my Afghanistan. 00:01:57.339 --> 00:02:02.661 This is what comes into my mind every time I think of home. 00:02:02.661 --> 00:02:05.953 So back in 2001 when the Taliban took over 00:02:05.953 --> 00:02:09.565 when they were at the height of their power, life was bad. 00:02:09.565 --> 00:02:12.407 This didn't exist anymore. 00:02:12.407 --> 00:02:16.352 All concepts of basic human rights were thrown out the window. 00:02:16.352 --> 00:02:19.233 Women were forced to stay at home, 00:02:19.233 --> 00:02:23.087 stay uneducated, or restricted from teaching. 00:02:23.087 --> 00:02:25.025 Men were forced to grow beards and simply accept 00:02:25.025 --> 00:02:28.013 the judgment of the local commander. 00:02:28.013 --> 00:02:30.856 You know, whatever that may be. 00:02:30.856 --> 00:02:36.369 Life as we knew it had changed. 00:02:36.369 --> 00:02:39.808 So there we were in 2001 -- 00:02:39.808 --> 00:02:42.893 me and my family being part of the ethnic minority, 00:02:42.893 --> 00:02:48.707 the Khazars, we were persecuted and executed. 00:02:48.707 --> 00:02:50.712 We were seen by the Taliban and their people 00:02:50.712 --> 00:02:55.770 as a tumor that needed to be cut and gotten rid of. 00:02:55.770 --> 00:02:59.234 For half time entertainment at local football matches 00:02:59.234 --> 00:03:02.785 my people were brought on onto the field 00:03:02.785 --> 00:03:06.324 and stoned to death. 00:03:06.324 --> 00:03:11.080 Education en mass for the price of disobedience. 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:13.800 And so, as you can imagine, my father made the 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:17.152 decision for our family to leave. 00:03:17.152 --> 00:03:21.414 Seek a fresh start, somewhere new. A new beginning. 00:03:21.414 --> 00:03:25.274 And that new beginning was going to be Australia. 00:03:25.274 --> 00:03:29.715 So we set out in spring of 2001. 00:03:29.715 --> 00:03:35.131 Under the cover of night, we arrived in Pakistan, in Karachi. 00:03:35.131 --> 00:03:39.668 And, already life was different and I was in the next country. 00:03:39.668 --> 00:03:42.193 Our family stayed in a one bedroom apartment 00:03:42.193 --> 00:03:46.279 while our traveling papers were organized. 00:03:46.279 --> 00:03:49.961 And I celebrated my 7th birthday in Pakistan. 00:03:49.961 --> 00:03:53.281 Indonesia was going to be the next step. 00:03:53.281 --> 00:03:54.907 See I remember the journey clearly 00:03:54.907 --> 00:03:58.497 because it was the first time I boarded a plane 00:03:58.497 --> 00:04:01.764 and I can tell you now I was not Star Alliance member. 00:04:01.764 --> 00:04:04.314 Not in New Zealand. 00:04:04.314 --> 00:04:07.347 Cramped into an old rickety plane 00:04:07.347 --> 00:04:09.313 I couldn't understand how we managed to stay in 00:04:09.313 --> 00:04:11.613 one piece when we arrived in Indonesia. 00:04:11.613 --> 00:04:13.425 And oh man, what a difference you know 00:04:13.425 --> 00:04:20.551 the heat, the humidity, the bananas, the neverending expanse of water. 00:04:20.551 --> 00:04:23.880 Where the hell where we? 00:04:23.880 --> 00:04:26.230 But anyway, we stayed in Indonesia for 2 months 00:04:26.230 --> 00:04:29.263 while once again traveling papers organized. 00:04:29.263 --> 00:04:31.200 And you know we had to find a ship, 00:04:31.200 --> 00:04:33.131 someone to get us to New Zealand. 00:04:33.131 --> 00:04:34.997 I'm not in New Zealand at this time obviously, 00:04:34.997 --> 00:04:40.407 Australia, we didn't even know this tiny island nation even existed. 00:04:40.407 --> 00:04:42.477 Then one night, you know, we'd been here for 2 months 00:04:42.477 --> 00:04:44.715 and then one night, I was started awake by my mother 00:04:44.715 --> 00:04:47.371 and she said "We're leaving." 00:04:47.371 --> 00:04:49.449 And me, being unaware, not knowing, 00:04:49.449 --> 00:04:51.446 I was 7 at the time, and anyways I was, 00:04:51.446 --> 00:04:54.540 "OK, you know, let's leave." 00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:57.019 We were leaving tonight, oh wow. 00:04:57.019 --> 00:04:59.019 So I quickly grabbed on to as many clothes as I could 00:04:59.019 --> 00:05:02.134 I checked them on trying to save some space in my bag and 00:05:02.134 --> 00:05:05.298 we were hurried off onto a bus in the middle of the night. 00:05:05.298 --> 00:05:07.246 This was all pitch black darkness so you couldn't see anything 00:05:07.246 --> 00:05:08.566 In the middle of the night, we were rushed off 00:05:08.566 --> 00:05:12.593 to port, port Merak in Indonesia. 00:05:12.593 --> 00:05:15.361 And, in Port Merak we caught up with some 00:05:15.361 --> 00:05:17.062 of the other Khazars families, who were also 00:05:17.062 --> 00:05:19.395 escaping the atrocities back home. 00:05:19.395 --> 00:05:20.328 But we couldn't see anyone 00:05:20.328 --> 00:05:22.122 we couldn't distinguish number or what not. 00:05:22.122 --> 00:05:26.527 So there we were hurried along into the belly of this 00:05:26.527 --> 00:05:30.562 unknown ship and we couldn't understand -- 00:05:30.562 --> 00:05:32.178 we knew we were at the port because we could hear 00:05:32.178 --> 00:05:33.861 crashing of the waves, but we didn't know 00:05:33.861 --> 00:05:35.911 where we were, we just hurried along to the ship 00:05:35.911 --> 00:05:37.261 you know, what sort of ship is this? 00:05:37.261 --> 00:05:39.678 How big it is? 00:05:39.678 --> 00:05:43.479 The next day I got the chance to truly explore this vessel you know, 00:05:43.479 --> 00:05:46.390 the MV Palapa 2 as it was known. 00:05:46.390 --> 00:05:48.881 and I hate to think what happened to Palapa 1. 00:05:48.881 --> 00:05:51.412 The MV Palapa 2 was a fishing vessel 00:05:51.412 --> 00:05:56.553 and just like fish, 438 Afghans, mostly Afghans, 00:05:56.553 --> 00:06:01.357 were crammed into a space that was meant to hold 40. 00:06:01.357 --> 00:06:03.394 And I remember, I remember needing to go to the 00:06:03.394 --> 00:06:05.993 bathroom when I discovered that it was simply a hole, 00:06:05.993 --> 00:06:09.244 in the deck that ran straight into the ocean, 00:06:09.244 --> 00:06:13.582 I didn't need to go to the bathroom anymore. 00:06:13.582 --> 00:06:18.043 But anyway, on the second day, the engine failed 00:06:18.043 --> 00:06:21.378 and that night a storm hit and here you know, 00:06:21.378 --> 00:06:24.227 this was the scariest moment of the whole journey. 00:06:24.233 --> 00:06:25.886 Not for me, but for everyone, 00:06:25.886 --> 00:06:29.539 as a kid, you know, I thought I was on a big adventure. 00:06:29.539 --> 00:06:32.245 But put yourselves in my father's position, 00:06:32.245 --> 00:06:34.780 he thought that he was offering us a chance, 00:06:34.780 --> 00:06:36.563 his family a chance at a fresh start 00:06:36.563 --> 00:06:38.763 and now, in this situation when the most, 00:06:38.763 --> 00:06:41.690 when our fate was at the mercy of the waves 00:06:41.690 --> 00:06:44.845 he thought that he had condemned us to death. 00:06:44.845 --> 00:06:49.373 The men all reached the lowest point of their lives at this point. 00:06:49.373 --> 00:06:52.781 And still thinking back at it today I think, 00:06:52.781 --> 00:06:55.912 how the hell did we survive that night? 00:06:55.912 --> 00:06:59.030 Because it was a miracle 00:06:59.030 --> 00:07:02.213 the men at that point we were praying, praying to God 00:07:02.213 --> 00:07:03.341 that please save us 00:07:03.341 --> 00:07:05.504 you know, if we're to drown tonight, please wash our 00:07:05.504 --> 00:07:10.115 bodies on some shore so we can be buried on land. 00:07:10.115 --> 00:07:13.862 But the next day, it eventuated and a small plane 00:07:13.862 --> 00:07:16.163 flew overhead and you know as you can imagine 00:07:16.163 --> 00:07:19.129 there's a sense of hope that 00:07:19.129 --> 00:07:20.546 this plane would see us and 00:07:20.546 --> 00:07:23.340 we would be rescued but nothing happened. 00:07:23.340 --> 00:07:24.729 And the one man who's sitting at the back of the 00:07:24.729 --> 00:07:27.880 auditorium thought he could speak some 00:07:27.880 --> 00:07:29.930 English could write the letters S O S 00:07:29.930 --> 00:07:31.795 and put it up so that the next time a flight 00:07:31.795 --> 00:07:33.471 pass they will see us and it did 00:07:33.471 --> 00:07:35.912 but again nothing happened. 00:07:35.912 --> 00:07:37.880 Morning turned into evening 00:07:37.880 --> 00:07:40.995 and all sense of hope was lost again. 00:07:40.995 --> 00:07:42.980 But that evening God heard our prayers 00:07:42.980 --> 00:07:49.155 for out of the horizon came the MV Tampa -- 00:07:49.155 --> 00:07:51.180 MV Tampa is a Norwegian cargo ship heading from 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:53.313 Fremantle in Wiston Australia to Singapore 00:07:53.313 --> 00:07:55.903 and had picked up our distress signal that the 00:07:55.903 --> 00:07:57.780 captain had put up. 00:07:57.780 --> 00:08:00.796 And that's our little boat right there anchored next 00:08:00.796 --> 00:08:05.859 to the MV Tampa. 00:08:05.859 --> 00:08:09.179 And so as the last man got out of the Palapa, 00:08:09.179 --> 00:08:11.880 the Palapa sank 00:08:11.880 --> 00:08:13.595 taking with it everything that we brought from 00:08:13.595 --> 00:08:16.207 Afghanistan and Pakistan to start our new lives elsewhere. 00:08:16.207 --> 00:08:20.195 It sank and is now at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. 00:08:20.195 --> 00:08:22.696 Here we wanted to go 00:08:22.696 --> 00:08:24.930 We slept in containers, empty containers 00:08:24.930 --> 00:08:27.696 and we prayed on deck, and we wanted to know 00:08:27.696 --> 00:08:30.030 we wanted to go to Australia to Christmas Island 00:08:30.030 --> 00:08:33.296 because it was under Australian control and hopefully 00:08:33.296 --> 00:08:36.554 here we would be processed and sent to Australia 00:08:36.554 --> 00:08:38.143 this was it, here we are, 00:08:38.143 --> 00:08:41.470 the last stepping stone, we're going to go. 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:44.191 But Australia at this time was in the midst of an election 00:08:44.191 --> 00:08:49.705 and policy had changed -- 00:08:49.705 --> 00:08:52.821 John Howard closed the doors on Australia 00:08:52.821 --> 00:08:55.888 to further his campaign. 00:08:55.888 --> 00:08:58.288 And so Captain Rinnan, a brave man, a risk taker, 00:08:58.288 --> 00:09:01.188 he chose, he headed straight for Christmas Island 00:09:01.188 --> 00:09:03.372 but you know within 10 kilometers of Christmas Island 00:09:03.372 --> 00:09:06.538 we were forced back by SAS troops. 00:09:06.538 --> 00:09:08.989 And under pressure from his own bosses 00:09:08.989 --> 00:09:10.504 Renner could not hold us anymore because 00:09:10.504 --> 00:09:12.255 he needed his freight to Singapore. 00:09:12.255 --> 00:09:14.072 He could not be a host for us anymore. 00:09:14.072 --> 00:09:16.255 And so we changed, we were transferred onto 00:09:16.255 --> 00:09:19.154 the HMS Minora, a navy frigate. 00:09:19.154 --> 00:09:20.850 And this was a lot better for we had bedding 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:24.672 and shower facilities, but still we had no sense of direction 00:09:24.672 --> 00:09:30.094 we had, we were just waiting out on the ocean with nowhere to go. 00:09:30.094 --> 00:09:33.255 While we were on there, 9/11 happened 00:09:33.255 --> 00:09:35.138 but we were unaware. 00:09:35.138 --> 00:09:38.872 Because New Zealand put up a tent. 00:09:38.872 --> 00:09:40.955 Who or what is a New Zealand? 00:09:40.955 --> 00:09:43.135 (Laughter) 00:09:43.135 --> 00:09:45.939 That's what we were thinking 00:09:45.939 --> 00:09:48.972 but we didn't care for New Zealand was the end 00:09:48.972 --> 00:09:51.704 of our 6 month journey from that little village you saw 00:09:51.704 --> 00:09:54.971 at the first picture. 00:09:54.971 --> 00:09:59.891 So we arrived in New Zealand 28th of September 2001 00:09:59.891 --> 00:10:04.030 and at the tarmac of Auckland Airport we felt home. 00:10:04.030 --> 00:10:08.271 For the first time, we felt on solid ground 00:10:08.271 --> 00:10:13.822 and so we transferred to Mangere Refugee Center 00:10:13.822 --> 00:10:15.705 and from there we've been living in Christchurch 00:10:15.705 --> 00:10:21.057 for the past 11 years. 00:10:21.075 --> 00:10:23.089 That's me and my dad right now when we went back 00:10:23.089 --> 00:10:25.172 this Saturday to Afghanistan and to think 00:10:25.172 --> 00:10:28.972 where we've come from and where I am at right now 00:10:28.972 --> 00:10:33.778 where I'm standing on this stage today is a story of hope 00:10:33.778 --> 00:10:36.391 and I want to tell all of you this is my message to all of you. 00:10:36.391 --> 00:10:39.788 We're all going through a tough time right now 00:10:39.788 --> 00:10:45.355 this country right now is the last land mass to be colonized. 00:10:45.372 --> 00:10:48.488 Everyone in this auditorium is either a migrant, 00:10:48.488 --> 00:10:51.654 a refugee, or a descendant of one. 00:10:51.654 --> 00:10:54.738 It's forever enriching its identity 00:10:54.738 --> 00:11:00.462 with people from all over the world. 00:11:00.462 --> 00:11:03.771 And so if I, in final remark, regards I just wanted 00:11:03.771 --> 00:11:05.822 to tell you we're all going through a tough time 00:11:05.822 --> 00:11:07.708 you know, never lose hope because there are other people 00:11:07.708 --> 00:11:09.480 going through tougher times. 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:12.390 We all have the power to make a difference 00:11:12.390 --> 00:11:15.803 as I graduate and head off from this stage and go 00:11:15.803 --> 00:11:17.937 to University down the road I wonder, 00:11:17.937 --> 00:11:21.187 "How can I make a difference?" 00:11:21.187 --> 00:11:24.922 But the reality is we all have the power to make a difference. 00:11:24.922 --> 00:11:29.558 And that can be as easy as listening to someone tell their story. 00:11:29.558 --> 00:11:31.221 Thank you. 00:11:31.221 --> 00:11:41.603 (Applause) 00:11:42.625 --> 00:11:44.062 (Moderator) No, don't go, don't go,stay, 00:11:44.062 --> 00:11:46.760 we gotta talk a bit about your family. 00:11:46.760 --> 00:11:58.170 (Applause) 00:11:58.916 --> 00:12:04.896 (Moderator) The word "Tampa" looms very large in history 00:12:04.896 --> 00:12:08.513 and so to have met somebody who came here from 00:12:08.513 --> 00:12:11.201 the Tampa is a huge privilege. 00:12:11.201 --> 00:12:14.498 You asked, "Who or what is New Zealand?" 00:12:14.498 --> 00:12:16.931 The simple answer is "You are!" 00:12:16.931 --> 00:12:19.532 and you didn't come on your own. 00:12:19.532 --> 00:12:21.914 and so we would like to acknowledge family and friends 00:12:21.914 --> 00:12:25.931 in the audience if they would like to stand please? 00:12:25.931 --> 00:12:28.932 You're out there. Thank you very much indeed. 00:12:28.932 --> 00:12:36.177 (Applause)