Local Dandenong resident and Afghan refugee Mohammad Asif Fayaz is seeking to publish a newly written memoir, shedding light on the harrowing experience of living under Taliban rule, especially for members of the Hazara community.
“Exile in Hope: A Narrative of the Dreams and Struggles of the Hazaras in Afghanistan”, is part memoir, part exposé, detailing Fayaz’s life in Afghanistan prior to the Taliban’s resurgence and military seizure of the nation in 2021 and the hopes his generation held of building a free and prosperous Afghanistan.
“We were basically a generation intent on building our country but because of the Taliban, that dream ended,”
Fayaz outlines in the pages the way his career in journalism and law and his place as a member of the Hazara community endangered him and his family.
“These things made me a target of the Taliban.”
From there, the narrative follows Fayaz, forced to separate from his family to lessen the danger to them, as he traverses the countryside disguised as a rural peasant. He is forced to rely on smugglers to move in secret, as around him the government collapses and the Taliban complete their occupation of the country.
The narrative shifts as Fayaz not only details his own experiences, but begins to give a record of the discrimination and violence suffered by Hazara people in Afghanistan, even before the rise of Taliban rule.
The next three years find Fayaz in Pakistan with his family, struggling to make ends meet and never entirely safe from the threat of the Taliban, a situation he contrasts sharply with the peace and opportunity he found coming to Australia as a refugee.
“After just four weeks, I feel like this is my home. Everything in Australia is good. There is respect and peace, there are the services we need. There is schooling and safety for my son. There are great opportunities here to make our dreams come true,”
Fayaz expresses his gratitude to Australia for the new life he enjoys in Dandenong and the right he enjoys to tell his story and the stories of his people.
“Now I can tell the story of my people’s misfortune. In my country, people don’t have this right, and no one can tell the truth. I want people in Australia and the world to know us through our true stories.
Fayaz is currently seeking help in translating the book into English.
