The Rugmaker’s Story - Afghanistan/Refugee/Australia
Najaf Mazari; 30/3/08; Najaf fled Afghanistan and the Taliban in 2001, leaving behind his wife and daughter, only to face the despair of Woomera detention centre. In this extract from his new book, he tells how a whispered prayer helped turn his life around.
I did not know that I could feel this much sorrow without a body to bury. How heartsick can I become before I break down and weep in front of everyone? I wander about the camp with the blanket from my bed around my shoulders, searching for a spot where I can’t be seen and can’t be heard. And where would that be? I have been in the camp for three months. If such a spot exists, wouldn’t I have discovered it before this day? The camp is Woomera, or really my small part of Woomera, a section called November. I share November with hundreds of people from lands I have never visited, lands that are as mysterious to me as my own homeland of Afghanistan is to the guards who keep watch on us day and night.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23458936-5012694,00.html