Last year, in my 33rd year of life, I met a woman who spent 33 years of her life on refugee resettlement and family reunification at Saskatoon Open Door Society in Canada. Saba was the first of my interviews for a series of pieces commissioned by a friend for the UNHCR in Canada.
This friend wrote me 54 days after the debacle in Kabul. I feel like I was given to the assignment as much as the assignment was given to me. I needed to speak to Saba. To understand how she maintains composure in her line of work and…if any Afghan refugees made it there yet. She gave me a candid and professional response.
We shared stories of our relationship to fleeing—her’s first-hand, mine inherited. After about twenty minutes, we used the remainder of our time together to organize a discussion with a Burundian mother who had just been reunited with her daughter after a few years of separation.
I share this now because the conversations in office hours today reminded me of some of the themes in this interview. Mothering, the feeling of being a child alone in the world, massive change because it has to, and so much more you can read about here.
Incredible post. Thank you, Hawa ♥️