Hindu Kush

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Shams Hussaini and Francis Amos

Francis Amos has big eyes, round cheeks and a radiant smile, the one lone front tooth reveals. He is eight months old, and is better to make friends than his father.

On a warm Saturday afternoon, my son and I swam in a hotel pool in Batam , Indonesia . The resort overlook The Sea , the skyscrapers of Singapore, about 10 Miles Away , is a row of the sky-blue horizon.

At the end of the pool, a young man with black hair noticed that my son, the lone tooth. He shook his hand and smiled. "Where are You ?", he asked.

"is He from England," I replied. "And You ?"

"Afghanistan ," he said. "I am a refugee. "

Then, as The Sun dipped and the sky in orange, the refugee told me his story. It involved death threats, a Taliban kidnapping, a secret Savior, and the years of imprisonment.

Many of the refugees have similar Stories - or worse, a lot worse. But this is his. And it is here, is because of a chance meeting in an Indonesian pool.

Shams Hussaini (also known as Erfan) is 21 and grew up in Sang-e-Masha, a highland town, dominated by the Hindu Kush mountains.

He has two younger brothers and a younger sister, and comes from a simple, poor Family . His father made shoes and farmed the small plot of land, which by their mud-and-stone-house.

Shams to remember is young, the life before the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, But he knows how it was. The School was closed, he says. People have no access to education.

Shams is a Hazara, the third largest Ethnic Group in Afghanistan . The Hazara are Shia Muslims, in contrast, other Afghans, and have suffered appearance, the decades of persecution, not least from the Taliban.

So, after 2001, things improved. They could hardly be worse.

"Hazara people are advocates of education," says Shams . "They are supporters of knowledge and light. The people went to school, people started to go to the University. "

she has taught English at the Shams " school, But only for an hour a week. So, at the age of 12, and encouraged by his uncle and other relatives, he went to a private center. As a bot he finished the advanced class, at the age of 15 years, the Director offered Him a job.

The Role of the involved teaching Basic classes and travel in the capital, Kabul, to pick-up materials - Books , paper, and so on. The Money was not great, But the Shams needed to earn money. His parents had died, leaving Him a teenager, as head of The Family .

"saw When I was on my younger brothers and sister, I thought I must Do Something to change your life," he says. "I had to do everything in my ability to be a little positive change. "

10. December 2014, Shams left his house and took a bus to get to Kabul, the materials for its English centre. He has not seen His Family since.

Shams on his English learning centre in Afghanistan , The Taliban may have been ousted in 2001, But they never went away. In Sang-e-Masha, they are directed to the English school, staff, and students.

"For You , English is the language of the unbelievers," says Shams .

The School received threatening letters, both by the Taliban and the local mullahs. To argue that some of the mullahs of the nearby masjid (mosque).

"This is not a English learning centre", they'd say. "This is a place for misleading the people. "

For the mullahs, The Sin of teaching English was reinforced by the teaching of boys and girls under the same roof You bullied Shams and His Family , But he was undeterred.

"We felt scared, But to help the hungry people lived in illiteracy for decades was higher than that of intimidation," he says.

And so, on this cold Wednesday in December, he got on the bus to Kabul.

It was the third time Shams Kabul was gone since taking The Job , and Each Time , he was afraid.

The capital city is about 275km (170 miles) of Shams ' house and goes through Karabakh, a place, Shams calls the slaughterhouse.

"have killed The Taliban and kidnapped hundreds and thousands of Hazara, on this highway," he says.

After Three Hours , the bus Karabakh reached, and Shams ' were realized worst fears. Two Taliban, armed with guns, stopped the bus. They are ordered from the Shams .

to the outside world, the Taliban are beaten Shams and screamed in his face. Shams do not speak their language, Pashto, But the Bus Driver was able to translate, anxious and desperate.

"Where is the English teacher?", the Taliban demanded, hands on their guns, the drilled eyes into Him . "Are You the English teacher?"

Shams English teaching in Indonesia , Every time the Shams , it refused, he hit got. He shook with fear. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Finally, he was speechless. He was convinced that he was going to die.

"fear is defeated, all the parts of my body," he says.

Then The Woman left her place, went out of the bus and saved his life.

"Halt," She Said , crying himself. "He is not the person You 're looking for. He is my son. "

Shams did not know The Woman , But he said nothing. The Taliban saw in the Shams . He was 15, small, and seemed an unlikely teacher. Eventually, they let Him and the bus on the way.

Shams had survived. But there was no celebration or near-miss euphoria. "I felt shaken on The Inside ," he says.

So when he arrived in Kabul, he met a decision. He hasn't been back to the slaughterhouse, and he was not Singing to-e-Masha.

In Kabul, motel, Shams said a driver often took people from the Shams district of the capital. Shams ' story was common, The Driver said: many people in Kabul arrived and never went back.

Shams said he wanted to escape, so that The Driver found a smuggler who could help Him . The smugglers, he said Shams to Indonesia could send, via India and Malaysia.

Once in Jakarta, the smugglers said that Shams were able to help with the UNHCR, the UN refugee. Shams didn't know, Indonesia - he had never left Afghanistan , But everything was better than Home .

He called his uncle (small farmers) to pay those who agreed, the smugglers, the $5,000 in installments, and a week of waiting. Then, with his new passport in hand, he flew to Delhi, then to Kuala Lumpur . From there he went to the coast and sail overnight to Indonesia .

compared to some of the Afghan refugees, it was a quick escape. Those who flee to Europe, for Example , often go about the country, crossing thousands of miles in the back of the truck. But Shams ' journey - But it was faster - not easy or safe.

As he approached the Malaysian coast, he expected a ferry. Instead, he boarded a wooden boat, crowded with Families , young couples and teenage boys. The Sea was rough, the sky was dark, and after an hour, it started to rain.

water rushed over the side of the boat. For the second time in a month, Shams thought he would die, This Time in the Strait of Malacca.

Shams ' stop-off points in Indonesia ", It was not actually The Place to die," he says. "I survived The War in Afghanistan , the Taliban, and now I'm going to sink in the water?

"Negative thoughts came in my head. What would happen to My Family ? What would happen To My dreams? And these thoughts come into the minds of other people.

"I saw their Faces - it was obvious. They were All In a terrible state of anxiety. "

Somehow, they were to keep above water. They reached Medan, Indonesia and went to Jakarta, 1,900 km (1,200 miles) away. There were six passengers in The Car were, and You were allowed only at Night - also if You needed the toilet.

After Three Days without food and hardly any water, they reached the capital. Shams was the UNHCR office and went in. This, he thought, was the start of a new life.

It was. But not the way he imagined had.

Shams thought would be the UNHCR, to listen to his story and offer Him a place to stay. Instead, they registered Him and asked Him to leave The Office .

"You said, a lot of people are like yourself - leave your number, to go outside to talk to your friends," he recalls. "But I had no friends. I knew no one in Indonesia . "

After two nights on the road he met a few Hazara boy from Afghanistan , hanging round in the vicinity of the UNHCR. She told Him that there were prisons in the vicinity of Jakarta, But they were full. Instead, they said he should go to Manado .

The City was a three-hour flight from Jakarta, But the room, the Hazara had institution-young said. You also knew a woman who also like The Flight .

Shams do not want to be imprisoned - who would? - But he had no alternative. The Streets of Jakarta were grim - no food, no water, no Hope .

He did not have enough money for The Flight , But he asked The Woman , and she gave in. On his arrival in Manado he went to the immigration office and asked to stay somewhere.

such As the UNHCR, who asked You to leave Him .

Getty Afghan refugees In numbers

2. 7mNumber refugees in the world (the second after Syria)

92%in Iran, or in Pakistan

13,600 in Indonesia (asylum seekers and refugees)

life, refugees and asylum seekers, afghanistan, indonesia, long reads, inspiring stories

Source of news: bbc.com