This article was published in the Spring 2017 issue of The Sewanee Review.
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| Nurzai |
When Nurzai was
eight years old, a shootout at the Afghan-Iranian border separated him from his
family. It was late at night, and the family was trying to cross into Iran.
Instead of being met by border guards, they found themselves negotiating with
smugglers.
“They told us
to get out of the car and walk… We had been warned by the smuggler’s own henchmen
that he is a thief and might kidnap children, even if we paid him… we thought
that if we ran for it we might escape,” says Nurzai, who was travelling with
his parents, an older brother and an older sister. “They opened fire spraying
bullets everywhere… Everyone else ended up in one group and I was on my own.”
Nurzai, who
prefers not to reveal his real name and hometown, is now a demure, soft-spoken 14
year-old. He has spent the last six years making his way, alone, to Greece –
the first European foothold attainable from Asia. The fuzz on his upper lip
suggests a sophomore, but the experiences he has been through, his composure as
he relates them, and his very survival, suggest resourcefulness and maturity
rarely found in adults, let alone children.
