Freshta Poupal: “I fell in love with this girl.”

An essay by Freshta Poupal

On October 30, 2015 I decided to go to Lesvos, Greece after reading an Instagram post, then reading more about the refugee crisis. I am an Afghan American Nurse.

On my way back to New York from Greece, I felt a sense of loss having witnessed the gravity of the situation. I wanted to do more. Up until the last moment I got on the plane, I was on the phone translating for a 75-year-old woman in the hospital with cardiac problems. How could I leave them all behind to go back to my comfortable home?

I was exhausted after working all day and night in the camps, on the shore and transporting people back & forth. My nights were spent doing outreach as a nurse and assessing the most vulnerable.

While the work was incredibly hard, it reminded me why I truly became a nurse in the first place: no politics, no charting, no bureaucracy.

As a native Farsi speaker I spent time getting to know everyone’s stories of devastation and desperation while I held their hands as I cried. Imagine having traveled for weeks, months living in different areas of the world to make ends meet for smuggling fees.

Imagine sleeping in a forest with no cover from the elements and seeing your children become weaker and sicker but still knowing this was a better option. Your only option.

Imagine leaving everything you had to start from scratch and live in utter fear for months. Imagine not knowing if you will make the journey alive through the Aegean Sea with your children.

Imagine not eating for days in the forest or scared that you will get raped.

Smugglers take roughly 2,000 Euros per person, while providing boats with holes and false life jackets. The capacity of these boats holds about 10 people but smugglers often put 60 or more people on these boats.

When terrified families saw the state of the boats they understandably hesitated before embarking which is when the vile excuses for human beings the traffickers would begin to beat them with sticks or gun point to force them aboard.

Unfortunately, this was the chance they had, so they were forced to board and pray to live another day.

There was no warning of the boats coming from the Turkish side on the rocky shores of Lesvos where unless spotted by volunteers who put themselves at risk, there would be no one to receive them.

There would be no one to help resuscitate drowning woman, children and people.

There would be no one feeding them, directing them to safety.

And then – the smile on their faces when they would come off the boats was priceless.

They shouted, “She is one of us” in Farsi, and I felt such joy that I was there to help and guide them to safety.

When they learned I was Afghan, and had come from America to help them, they were so relieved and so moved.

I cry thinking that my presence is essentially what made them feel safe and comforted. I had women throwing their babies at me from the boat to make sure they made it to safety.

Men pulling and fighting against the ocean grabbed my hand for safety.

ME, just a nurse.

Throughout all this hardship, I saw humanity in its absolute best. Camp Moria is a true “juxtaposition.” This camp has a striking and pervasive air of optimism which is found within the refugees, many whom have endured such awful fates in their own countries. Each one of these refugees had their own stories which they shared with me because I could understand them.

My first night after 24 hours of traveling, I walked down to the shore by Skala Skymine. As soon as we said hello began translating, assessing and treating patients. The boat that came in was full of Afghans who were scared, hyperglycemic, cold and hungry.

Despite all these circumstances they still managed to have the biggest smiles on their faces! I met one lady, Zohra, who cried to me and told me how awful Afghanistan has become. The Taliban is killing people, there is no food and no way to defend themselves. She cried in my arms and I could just feel all the pain in her eyes. I tried to hold my tears back as much as I could to be a stronger person for her. I reassured her that now God has given her a better future and to never give up. I noticed then how great the need for Farsi speaking volunteers are.

I spent my second day with Hannan Razzouki, showing us around the different camps and breaking down how all the NGOs work. We spent a few hours in Moria, Kara Tepe, Oxy, and Skala, which are the different camps.

In Skala I met many people but one of the many people I got to speak to was Zahra, whom came in hyperventilating. She explained to me if I wasn’t there she would have died, and explained that her husband and son have been lost in Afghanistan for 10 years. She has one son with her now, Omid. She asked me “What am I supposed to do, where should I go? Sweden or Germany, is it safe?”

The fear in her eyes broke my heart into pieces. I held her and started to tell her about myself while her body was still shaking and she calmed down. Finally, when she got better, she resumed her journey.

I then met Mohsen from Mazar e Sharif. He is one out of 11 siblings, he had not eaten anything for a week as he was so frail and weak. When Mohsen came I asked him why he didn’t eat he said he had no more money. Mohsen was wearing a Feroza ring as I was telling him how beautiful it was the doctor came in. The doctor then joined me in telling him how gorgeous his ring is and how nice of a man he is.

At that moment, Mohsen took the ring off and handed it to the doctor as a gift. He said this was given to him as a gift and now he wanted him to have it for helping him.

This man was so selfless and generous I saw humanity in his eyes. The next morning I woke up and the first thing that came into my mind was to get food to feed Mohsen and everyone else.

Fortunately, I met a really nice NGO from the UK who happen to be going to Moria also. One of the guys dropped me off to get groceries and brought me to a kitchen to help me cook.

That day, we distributed food to 500+ people. On my way back I met another family at one of the checkpoints and as I was taking a picture of the “welcome refugees” sign he said in Farsi “take a picture of us” so I turned around and in Farsi and said sure why not! His eyes lit up in shock that I spoke Farsi, he then introduced me to his family and I asked him if he needed anything.

He said just prayer for his future with his family.

One of the great tragedies of the 21st century now is unfolding before our eyes, as the largest movement since World War II run for their live from war, violence and persecutions throughout the world.

Of the one million refugees who arrived in Europe by sea during 2015, 544,753 landed on the island of Lesvos, Greece, located just off the West Coast of Turkey.

Many more wait in Turkey for a chance to cross the dangerous Aegean Sea.

The settlement of refugees and migrants has led to fears in America and Europe about cultural, economic change, and the increase on terrorism.

But we must not be blind to humanity. Hundreds of men, women and children are spending the night in the freezing outdoors with no food, water or shelter. Simple necessities, found in abundance in every household throughout America are luxuries to human beings that have nothing.

To think that donations alone would dampen the blow is to fool oneself. The refugee crisis concerns every human being on planet earth, therefore, it is our moral obligation to take responsibility and do our part.

As a nurse, an Afghan American, a woman and now a volunteer humanitarian nurse – it has been an honor to do my part. I invite all nurses to do the same.