Mission saves Afghan family
Widowed Afghan refugee Freshta Hasanzadah and her three teenage children landed at Sydney airport, marking the end of their against-the-odds rescue mission from Pakistan.
There were emotional scenes at Sydney Airport’s arrival hall late last month when Alethea Gold – Australian coordinator of Israeli charity SmartAID – embraced widowed Afghan refugee Freshta Hasanzadah and her three teenage children.
It marked the end of their against-the-odds rescue mission from Pakistan, where they’d desperately sought refuge, and many months of effort by SmartAID Australia volunteers to secure exit, and humanitarian entry visas for them.
Gold said Mida, one of the teenage children, broke down in tears of relief and gratitude as she embraced her.
Their father was brutally murdered in Kabul by the Taliban, and their safety was still at risk in Pakistan, making attending school impossible.
Their journey here was possible by a generous donation by the Roth families from Sydney.
Charmaine Roth, on behalf of the Roth families, told The AJN this week, “We are children of Holocaust survivors who came to Australia and found a new life.
“Religious freedom, education, safety and a chance to start new families … We were brought up never to take these things for granted.
“Perhaps that’s why this resonates so much with us.”
Gold said Freshta and her children “had endured unimaginable hardships, and after a lot of big [logistical] challenges to solve, to have this outcome is overwhelming”.
A final hiccup was an overbooked flight, and a law requiring departure from Pakistan within seven days of issued exit visas.
New flight tickets were secured, but from Islamabad – a 15-hour drive away from where they were – and a trusted driver was found to take them there.
Their flight took off right as their deadline expired.
Earlier this week, Gold took them to Jewish charity Thread Together to choose some outfits.
Freshta is the sister-in-law of Sydney resident Jawad Hasanzadah. SmartAID Australia – working closely with legal specialists Petra Playfair, Simone Abel and two Sydney-based federal MPs – had secured humanitarian visas and flights to Australia for Jawad’s wife and two young children a year ago.
Gold first met Jawad after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, when her friend in Kabul – Jawad’s cousin Amir – phoned her seeking urgent assistance, after Amir and his brother, who’d been professors at Kabul University, were badly beaten by Taliban supporters.
Amir, his pregnant wife, and other relatives made it to Pakistan, where SmartAID arranged provision of medical and other assistance.
Gold said a lot remains to be done, as 11 members of Jawad’s and Amir’s families “still await Australian humanitarian visas” and are in “a perilous situation in Pakistan”.
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