A 19 Year Old Patient Tells of her Life
Gulshan was a patient at Malalai Hospital. She is 19 years old and lives with her mother, Reeza Gul. Her father, Mohammed Alam, was killed during the war between Afghanistan and Russia; at that time, the family lived in Kabul. Gulshan's mother remarried, but her second husband was also killed when a rocket fired by the Taliban fell on their house. The rocket also killed Gulshan's sisters, 9-month-old Habeeba and 7-year-old Arifa.
Gulshan was then forced to leave Kabul and emigrate to Pakistan with her mother, her 28-year-old brother Latif, and his wife and child. Now Gulshan and her mother work as servants in a Pakistani house, and Gulshan sews and makes crafts to sell. Still, they are poor and they live alone; Gulshan's brother is abusive and does not help them. Gulshan came to the hospital after being beaten by her brother; she had wounds on her head and body and fainted often. 
She was happy to be cared for in the hospital and is thankful to those who made it possible.
Nasreen Underwent a Successful Surgery
Rahmat Gul's daughter Nasreen is a 50-year-old widow
from Kunar, a province in Afghanistan. Nasreen has a 14-year-old daughter named Meena. Her husband, who was one of the prominent anti-Russian and anti fundamentalist personalities, was kidnapped by one of the fundamentalist groups in Peshawar, Pakistan. Without losing hope, Nasreen searched for her husband tirelessly, but to no avail.
She was very active in Kunar province during the war against the Russians. Her interest and struggle for women's rights and her daughter's love gave her hope for the future.
Nasreen was suffering from a 5 kilogram tumor in her abdomen. She came to our hospital on July 13th, 2002. Once the doctors examined Nasreen and diagnosed her tumor, they successfully operated on her. The operation was one of the biggest surgeries so far conducted in Malalai Hospital. Even though the operation was expensive for the hospital, the success was rewarding.
Fozia was Injured by American Gunfire
Fozia was injured when she was escaping Afghanistan to Pakistan. She was brought to our hospital for treatment for her injuries
She narrated her story to us.
With tears in her eyes she said "fundamentalism of any color
is a crime creator." In Kabul I finished university and majored in engineering. In 1993 Commander Agah Gull, who had two wives, asked for my hand in marriage. My family and I turned down his proposals but they would not give up. His men came to my family with money and guns; and even used force to convince my family and I to accept his proposal. We had a battle to fight. We were assaulted and beaten by his men many times. They threatened to hurt my family if I did not agree to marry him. At last we decided to leave the country in order to save our lives from this horrific man.
The conditions were very bad for us, and we were going
through a tragic period of our life. The only things we could do were shed tears and pray to God.
Meanwhile, as a result of the blind rocketing by the fundamentalists we lost five members
of my uncle's family. We had no other solution but to bury the five bodies in our backyard and leave for Peshawar, Pakistan to save our own lives.
For a refugee family, life in Peshwar is full of difficulties. Afghan refugees are strongly warned to leave Pakistan.
The refugee families face discrimination on a daily basis.
After the Northern Alliance collapsed and Taliban came to power, we moved back to Kabul with hope of liberation. Life under the Taliban rule was horrifying. After the defeat of the Taliban by the Americans, and the return of Northern Alliance, we noticed that the situation was not much different. The Northern Alliance were the other face of the same coin. It seemed as though we were in a new nightmare. Once again, we decided to leave the country. On our way to Jalalabad we were targeted once again, but this time by our "American brothers." The peace keepers targeted us and as a result I lost my father, mother, sister and nephew and four of us were seriously injured. We buried the bodies of my parents, sister and my nephew in Laghman province. We were brought to Pakistan for our injuries. I wished I had died in that instance, for I couldn't take the hardship anymore.
As soon as my brother got better, Commander Agah Gull once again asked my hand for marriage. My brother and I rejected his proposal again, however, he was persistent and started threatening our lives again. To save my family from this misery I decided to commit suicide, but unfortunately I did not succeed.
We are now living a secret life in Rawalpindi. We had to leave Peshawar because we were constantly threatened by Agah Gull.
I never go anywhere alone. My disabled brother is collecting trash so we can survive. My other brother Ahmad Shah has gone to Kabul to sell our households because we have nothing here. He has not contacted us for the last three months. Some say he was arrested by the Commander and some say he was killed. Right now I live a difficult life with my brothers. I am an engineer. I could help out my family but I am so helpless and hopeless
right now.
Editors note: She kept on crying through out giving her story. As a result, we couldn't go into more detail about her life.
