Azim Ansari

[nagib]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/ ... 17,00.html

The education diaries

Azim Ansari

Azim Ansari was 14 years old in 2001 when he and his brother smuggled themselves into Britain from Afghanistan. They have not heard from their parents, four brothers and two sisters since then. Azim achieved A-grades in A-level maths and physics and a B in computing this year, and is going to St John's College, Oxford, to study engineering. The Home Office, however, has rejected his application to stay in the UK and the brothers are waiting for the date of their appeal

Sunday September 5, 2004
The Observer

I am an ethnic Hazara, of the Ismaili Shia religion. This makes me into a minority within a minority in Afghanistan: in 1998 there was a massacre of 10,000 Hazaras in a city not far from my town of Polikhomri.
In 2001, the danger was getting worse again and my father wanted the whole family to leave our area but he didn't want all his eggs in one basket because if we were caught, we would all be killed. One night we were told we had two minutes to say goodbye to our mother.

The trip took months and we finally arrived in England in the back of a lorry. We jumped out at some traffic lights and a car behind us called the police.

We were very scared but they were very kind to us. We were sent to Bristol and went to English language classes. After a while, teachers suggested I take maths and physics classes. Then they suggested that I should do A-levels, and so I did.

My brother finished his English course, then started working so I could continue at school. My father always wanted us to be educated, so this is a way of getting something positive out of what is a terribly sad situation: I hope to see my family again but I don't know if I will.

While I was doing A-levels, a teacher suggested I apply to Oxford University. I thought I would not get the grades or have the money, but I went to a conference organised by the university and realised it was not out of my league.

When I opened my grades and realised I had got into Oxford, I had two feelings: I was so happy but I could not react like my friends, who were jumping in the air because I didn't know if I really would be able to go: the Home Office had just told us our application to stay here had failed.

We are now waiting for a date for our appeal. It will always be in my mind that this one term at Oxford could also be my last. I will work as hard as I possibly can but if I have to go back, I will feel all my education here will have been a waste.

If I can finish my degree, I can help people but now, with just a little learning in maths and science, there is nothing I can really contribute yet, whatever country I am living in.

Hopes

To win the appeal; to make friends in Oxford; to feel confident in his subject; to get to know Oxford and its people.