Ellmarjan
“After a horrific trip through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, & the Balkans that lasted 7.5 months, they arrived in Belgium in 2019 seeking asylum. Almost 9 months later, they were granted official status as refugees in Belgium.”
Ellmarjan worked for 4 years as a translator for the U.S. Army. The Taliban asked him to leak information, but he refused and told them he’d never cooperate. After he and his family were harassed several times by the Taliban, Ellmarjan decided to leave the role for his family’s safety.
He went back to school and started his own pharmacy in Kabul. There, the Taliban asked for his collaboration, and, again, Ellmarjan refused and held his ground. In retaliation, the Taliban threw a hand grenade into the pharmacy. Ellmarjan was severely wounded and stayed for half a year in the hospital. For security reasons, they had to close the pharmacy and move his family to a new city. There, Ellmarjan became a physician’s assistant in a police hospital. After assisting on an operation of an Afghan General that received some media attention, his life in hiding was over.
Unfortunately, one day, when he and his father went to the bakery to buy some bread, they heard gunfire… and suddenly, his father was killed. As it was no longer safe to be in Afghanistan, Ellmarjan and his family were forced to flee the country. In one of the toughest of decisions, Ellmarjan and his wife decided the trip was too dangerous and risky for them to bring their youngest child, Arsh, along. He stayed behind with his grandmother.
After a horrific trip through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, & the Balkans that lasted 7.5 months, they arrived in Belgium in 2019 seeking asylum. Almost 9 months later, they were granted official status as a refugee in Belgium. This opened the possibility to ask for family reunification. After another long procedure, Arsh was granted the visa to be with his parents and his new brother.
After almost 2 years, Arsh was reunited with his parents thanks to Miles4Migrants donors who funded his flight and the work of Miles4Migrants’ nonprofit partner, Steunpunt Asiel. And the best news of all was that Ellmarjan was reunited with his son just in time to celebrate Arsh’s 5th birthday.
Ellmarjan’s story was created in collaboration with Miles4Migrants
