A Journey From Afghanistan: Abbas Nazari at TEDxEQChCh

Ten years ago, then 7-year-old Abbas Nazari and his family fled Afghanistan and the Taliban for the hope of a better future in Australia. In this emotional talk, Abbas shares the incredible tale of risk and courage that ultimately led them to New Zealand.

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 stoned 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)