Two years after fleeing Afghanistan, this former MP says life in Canada isn't easy

Zefnoon Safi was one of the early parliamentarians who escaped Afghanistan and came to Canada.

When the government in Afghanistan collapsed, Zefnoon Safi and her family's lives were in danger. She, her husband and five of her children escaped with nearly expired passports to Greece where they made a case for moving to Canada.

They were assigned to live in Calgary and moved in April 2022. Since then, the family has relocated to Edmonton. The family is safe in Canada, but life still isn't easy.

Last month, CBC sat down with Safi for an interview.

This interview was conducted through a translator and has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you decide to move from Calgary to Edmonton?

The first year, we had financial help from the government — that's why we stayed in Calgary for one year. But once that one year passed, we still hadn't mastered the language yet. We had a hard time finding jobs because language was a barrier. 

It's like pieces of my heart are still in Afghanistan.​​​- Zefnoon Safi

So we were wondering what we could do because we also didn't know anyone in Calgary. We were all alone. We had no other support structure or nobody to help us. But then we had friends in Edmonton who said if you come to us, we can help you get jobs.

Since then, how are things going?

Everyone in my family: me, my husband, sons, daughters and daughter-in-law, we're all taking English classes at different levels. My husband is in Grade 5 level. I am in Grade 3. My one son is in Grade 7. My daughter-in-law is doing really well, she's the most advanced.

We're all trying to do something. My husband drives an Uber. My one son works for a company and my other son works at a pizza shop. And my daughter-in-law was a doctor in Afghanistan. So she's trying to maybe do that here as well — that's her plan. Things are going well in Edmonton.

But you Zefnoon, were a politician in Afghanistan for 20 years. How has the transition been for you?

It's very difficult. It's kind of a fall for us. Where I was, I had an important role and more importantly, I had an important role for my people. 

Then to leave my people behind and come here, it has made me very unhappy. 

Physically we're at peace, but mentally we're not.

Canada was helping people who came from Afghanistan, but it sounds like that help kind of ran out. A few years later, is there any support that your family needs? 

There was some financial help. Besides that, there wasn't anything else.

When we first got here and got our place, we were given some pots and pans and some old furniture that wasn't working very well for us.

We felt fairly alone, we don't think there was a lot of support beside that.

There's also this loss of community for me. Because especially in my position, I knew a lot of people. There were so many people in Afghanistan that I knew, who supported me, that I knew I could reach out to. 

And then coming here, being completely away from all that, I feel very alone. 

The culture here isn't as communal. When I go out and say "hi" to the neighbours, only one says "hi" back — others don't. 

Are some of your daughters still in Afghanistan?

They are stuck in Afghanistan. We tried to get them to come here, but we couldn't find any sponsors — and we can't sponsor them. 

Two of my daughters and their kids are still left there. Their life is going from one place to the other, hiding. 

They tried to go to Pakistan, but then even over there it wasn't safe for them. So, they came back to Afghanistan and they're in hiding, going from one place to another, trying to make sure that they don't get killed. 

How does that make you feel?

It constantly weighs on me that my two daughters aren't with me.

It has affected my health. I have high blood pressure. It doesn't help that I'm constantly worrying about my two daughters being there with their lives at risk. 

And on top of that, this is the first time I've had to lie to my kids, which has been very hard for me as a mother. I can't be honest with them. 

We're constantly trying to give them hope that one day they will come here. But right now, all we can tell them is, "We're getting money together for you. We're figuring things out for you."

That's the lies we tell them. Even though we're living in rental housing here, we don't have good enough jobs to save enough money to bring them to safety here. 

That part of my life is very hard, but there's nothing we can do about it.

What needs to be done to help support families like yours?

Earlier I was very grateful for the Canadian government for bringing my family in, providing us safety. But my one request would be to unite Afghan families out there who are broken right now.

I'm safe here, but it's just so much harder right now because my family isn't together. Yes, it's a lot to ask. But that is the one ask I could have from the Canadian government. 

Because for a while, we won't be able to help my kids. It's going to be a while before we can have the kind of jobs where we can save the kind of money needed to bring my children here.

It's been three years since I've seen my daughters and my grandkids. And in our culture, all the family lives together.

It's like pieces of my heart are still in Afghanistan. Because that's what children are, they make your heart whole.