Before the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Jane, whose real name is being withheld for her safety, was a storyteller.
She often spent her days reporting on the lives of other Afghan women, alongside her husband John, whose name is being withheld for his safety.
John is a fellow journalist who reported on security, terrorism and corruption in Afghanistan. Together, they had three children – a family and friends. Everything was normal until the Taliban captured Baghlan, their home province.
“All of [this] was gone in a blink of an eye when the Taliban attacked our city and took over the local government and security buildings,” Jane says. “We were shocked because we weren’t expecting such a defeat from our government, and we were certainly not prepared to leave.”
It started with the threatening phone calls, threatening John and Jane would be punished if found. Because of their work, John and Jane were at a major risk of danger. This also happened to other journalists and social activists in the same province.
After many threatening calls, John and Jane decided to leave Baghlan. They moved to Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital.
“We left everything. We just got our telephones and some clothes,” John said.
Jane and John found sanctuary in Kabul while staying with relatives, which did not last long.
“When we were there, we couldn’t stay at a house for more than two or three days… because there were difficulties with threats,” Jane said.
While staying with relatives in Kabul, John and Jane made several requests to journalist support organizations to be moved into safe houses. Their requests were not met.
Leaving Kabul via the airport was not an option for the family because Jane and the children did not have passports. They had to lay low in a nearby guesthouse, unable to move. That was until their youngest child got extremely sick, causing them to leave and seek help from a doctor.
On their way back to the guest house, John was recognized and called out by a member of the Taliban. John was brutally beaten to the ground. John held his child in his arms to protect him while he was lashed, but that still did not stop them both from sustaining injuries.
Their children’s safety was the couple’s main priority. To escape the Taliban, John and Jane split up.
“There was a crowd. People were coming and I think there was a funeral or something,” John said. “We joined people and went through that. We started splitting because we knew that if we both were together with the kids and they found us, they would do what they wanted.”
All these events made Jane and John realize they needed to flee Afghanistan, not only for their safety but also for their children.
“We were scared that someone could report us to the Taliban,” Jane said. “We couldn’t stay in Kabul for another second.”
They chose to leave and made their way to Pakistan via road, but that journey was not easy.
Once Jane and John arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, they immediately sought treatment from doctors and nurses for their injuries. But being in Pakistan was difficult for them.
“My kids would face trauma for a long time, he had nightmares,” John said, referring to his oldest son, who was beaten with a stick on their way to Pakistan.
Although they were away from the Taliban in Afghanistan, they did not yet feel safe.
Local police in Pakistan often persecuted Afghan refugees. Afghans were regularly arrested and harassed by police, all to extort money.
Currently, there are about 1.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, some born there, while others are those who escaped Afghanistan over the decades. They are all being deported for reasons such as entering the country illegally and being undocumented.
More than 300,000 have already been deported or left Pakistan. The government of Canada has accepted over 40,000 Afghan refugees in Canada since the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
It took some time for Jane and the children to get passports and Pakistani visas. She had applied for a passport back in Kabul but had to pause the process because of the threats to her husband’s life.
Then a miracle happened.
The family was sponsored by the Canadian Lutheran World Relief, a Christian organization that provides international relief to those facing injustice. After a year in Pakistan, the family was finally headed to Canada.
“Our oldest son has always said, ‘Let’s go to Canada,” said Jane, speaking of the miraculous opportunity.
In November 2023, their plane landed in Calgary. They were welcomed by a local church, St. Peter’s Roman Catholic, and they were given every basic necessity from coats to temporary housing. But even then the family knew that Toronto was their end destination. By December, the family had settled into the city thanks to the help of St. Philip’s Lutheran Church in Etobicoke.
The couple envisions a bright future here in Toronto. They hope to continue their careers as journalists and to help build the community that has welcomed them.
“We are extremely happy, and most importantly our kids are happy,” Jane said.