7 days ago
I grew up being humiliated as an Afghan refugee in Iran and I can't turn away from harm facing refugees there today
By Zahra Nader Contributor
Ceri Marsh is a Toronto-based writer, author and book coach. She runs a membership called Write Your Damn Book.
I have been following the crisis Afghan refugees face in Iran and Pakistan, as a journalist and editor-in-chief of Zan Times, a media outlet that covers human rights in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. I might not be 'objective' in the traditional sense because I stand on the side of the people, on the side of those at the receiving end of suffering and trauma.
I do this as a survivor. I lived as a child refugee in Iran and was subjected to inhumane treatment. As an Afghan refugee there, I didn't have the right to education. I was abused on a daily basis on the streets of Tehran and was often told, 'Nasty Afghan, go back to your country.' That experience is now a trauma I've been reliving every day for the past few months.
