#EoF: the stories - From Kabul to Rome via Islamabad the story with a happy ending of a women's rights activist who asked young economists for help and made it to Italy together with her husband
by Cinzia Arena
published in Avvenire on 23/04/2022
‘I am a women's rights activist and my life in Afghanistan is in danger’. It is 21 September when this appeal arrives in the mailbox of the Economy of Francesco. A few weeks earlier, on 28 August, in many squares around the world the initiative "Afghan Women Exist. Together We Stand" took place which was organised by EoF’s young people to denounce the living conditions of Afghan women after the Taliban's return to power. The echo of those squares full of blue scarves had also reached Kabul where the young woman lived with the fear of being killed for the work she did: teaching children a concept that is not at all taken for granted in her country, namely gender equality.
Thanks to the cooperative "Una città non basta" (One City is not Enough) and the extraordinary commitment of two lawyers - Flavia Cerino and Maria Cristina Marzola - she and her husband made it to Italy last Thursday. Here are the two lawyers telling this story, with the hope that in September she will be able to do so herself at the third edition of EoF to be held in Assisi. They have worked night and day in remote connection, one in Rome and the other in Piacenza. They are experts in immigration law, a constantly evolving field that is unfortunately almost absent from university courses. ‘It was very difficult for us to understand and immerse ourselves in a reality so distant from our own,’ explains Flavia Cerino. ‘We entered into a close correspondence with her and her husband who eventually managed to participate in the humanitarian corridors programme and reach the Italian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan’.
‘The lady has been working in the field of women's rights for many years, just like her mother and sister,’ Maria Cristina Marzola continues. They were excessively concerned, as women are a “closely tracked” category. She was well-trained and aware of what goes on outside the country, teaching male children was even more of a risk for her ideas. They told us that they both lost their jobs overnight. The husband worked in a bank and studied abroad. During these months they lived off their savings until they ran out. They were very active on social media but had to delete their respective accounts so as not to be found’. Recently married, the young couple secured their wedding photos by sending them to their two lawyers for fear they would be intercepted (it had not been celebrated according to the canons imposed by the Taliban).
The situation in Afghanistan precipitated with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the two lawyers explain. Not because of a direct correlation but because of a(n additional) lack of interest on the part of the international community. ‘Through this couple's stories we learned what it is like to live in Afghanistan. In February, a house-to-house roundup began. They are not ethnic Hazaras but speak Pashtu as they are educated, so they managed to blend in. He grew a beard and she wore a burqa,’ the two lawyers recount. ‘In Afghanistan, women cannot do anything without a man, not even apply for an ID, they are de facto prisoners’.
The happy ending came thanks to the involvement of the social enterprise “Una città non basta” (One City is not Enough): the two found a home in a reception centre in the province of Rome that has been hosting 18 other Afghans since August thanks to private donations. They will now apply for international protection and will certainly not be able to return home for a long time. They arrived in tears in their eyes, with joy for having made it but also because of fear of an uncertain future. ‘During these months we have been in contact night and day, they have entrusted themselves completely to us, sending us their documents, their photos and a lot of news about the local situation’. A unique experience of sharing and trust. The message that Flavia and Maria Cristina want to spread by telling the story is the need to further expand EoF's reach:
‘Without a new law there can be no new economy. If we are not committed to basic human rights such as freedom, democracy and equality, the economy will not have a solid foundation on which to rest’.