By: Adila Azin
Translated by: Mohammad Sakhi Rezaie
It had arranged a meeting with three girls injured in a Suicide attack on Kaaj Educational Center who are from the same family. But they said they could not talk about that sad and tragic day because they are not feeling well; they were in a bad health condition and they are in a post suicide attack shock. As a result, I talk to Marzai, a woman who takes care of the alone. I had organized a meeting with Marzia in one of the cafes lose to their home to talk about the three injured girls and know about their health and other relevant issues. After passing a while, a pregnant woman approached me with dried lips and sad look and I guess she must be Marzia.
After greetings, she takes a seat on a chair in front of me. She starts talking, before she takes a sip of tea although she looks very tired. The post Kaaj Suicide attack “trauma” never lefts her behind. While she talks to me, she is worried about Shakiba, her sister. Shakiba has been recently been …. from the hospital but she is in a post suicide attack shock yet.
Marzia, takes care of the three girls injured in the Kaaj attack, but her husband is in Iran, and her mother in law has just come to Marzia’s house in Kabul for her treatment.
She was in the last semester of …, but taking care of the three injured girls and her ill sister had prevented her from attending the university.
Girls are getting ready to go to Kaaj Educational Center
It early morning and Marzia is in the bed yet. But Shakiba, Husnia and Zainab have already prepared for going to the Education Center. They wake up Marzia to prepare their stuff; because they were going to DayKondi after having their fifth preparatory entrance exam to participate in the formal entrance exam there. Marzia, while being half a sleep, tells them it is better not to take the fifth preparatory exam because it maybe late to go to Daykandi. However, they participate in the entrance exam to test their capabilities.
Marzia receives a call from Kaaj Educational Center
Marzia receives a call from the educational center after about 2 minutes the girls had left home. On the other side of the line, there is a man, he directly asks Marzia, “how many people from your home study at the educational center?” but Marzia asks the man to introduce himself and the man says he is one of instructors of Kaaj Educational Center. “Three people from our home attend Kaaj”. Heaing this, the man says “Allas!” and cuts off the conversation. The Marzia was wooried and wondered what happened to the members of her family and rushed out of the home to Kaaj Educational Center. At the of their home, Marzia meets the wife of their neighbor and she tells Maria that there has been a terrorist attack on Kaaj Educational Center. She walks as fast as possible to the educational center.
Taloban fighter does not allow Marzia to enter the center but she hits Taliban by anything at hand and finally goes inside the course.
Marzia finds the calls where three loved ones of her family studied there
Marzia finds a big class, where it looks as a slaughter house; a class that was attacked a suicide attacker and Shakiba, Husnia and Zainab studied there. When Marzia reached to this point of the story, her cheeks were full of tear and her hands were shivering. She pauses for a short time and continues telling about the classroom as saying it was a big classroom, its roof and walls destroyed, the chairs were broken, and there was blood, pieces of meet and bones, and lesson materials anywhere. “It was an unprecedented situation; unprecedented.” she says. She checks each of the chairs to find a clue from Shakiba, Husnia and Zainab among the injured people and dead bodies. She becomes after awhile and tells herself all that “all the three members of her family have certainly been killed and I cannot find them.” She thinks they may have been such cut to pieces that she cannot identify their bodies among the victims.
There were signs of Shakiba, Husnia and Zainab but shoes and mobiles
She only finds a pair of shoes that belonged to one of the three members of her family. She finds a bloody pairs of shoes, bigger than other ones; then she was certain it belonged to one of them, Because those three girls had big feet, bigger than more of the other students. Then she finds Shakiba’s, her sister, mobile and continues looking for them in other classrooms. People gathered outside the educational center, tell Marzia to go the mosque located across from the course, where many dead bodies were moved there. She looks for Shakiba, Husnia and Zainab but cannot find them. She is more disappointed and thinks all of the three girls have been killed. Then, she remembers her sick mother in law and rushes home. “It is better not to miss this one, I just walked fast and my mother in law had fainted on way to the course. I just walked fast and shouted all the three girls have been killed in the attack.” Marzia’s neighbors had come to their home and pour water on the face of her to gain her consciousness and then both of them started running agai.
Zainab, Marzia’s classmate was found full of blood and pieces of meet
Both of them (Marzia and her mother in law), run to the Watan hospital and finds Zainab (Shakiba and Husnia’s frined) in a very bad condition. Zainab is on a bed and just says “I am OK.” But she does not know where her friends are and how many of them are dead or injured. Zainab, a 19 year old girl wanted to study at university and in order to realize her big dream she had participated at the entrance exam in Daykondi.
Shakiba holding the exam paper was shouting “My friends, my friends…”
Marzia could hardly find out Shakiba, her sister, in one of the Watan hospital rooms, standing with bloody clothes, holding her exam books and papers and tornedo bloody bag and was shouting: My friends, my friends.
Shakiba was slightly injured; but she was psychologically damaged. She even thought about the exam in such a moment.
Husnia, sister of Marzia’s husband, was found in another hospital
While Marzia was soothing Shekiba, her uncle called her from another hospital to tell her Husnia has been found in Kabul Emergency hospital having a very bad health conditions. Marzia asks her neighbors who come to help her to take care of Shekiba and Zainab. Then she goes to the emergency hospital. On the way she feels very happy that two of her friends are alive yet. The roads were blocked on the day of the suicide attack and she could hardly find a taxi. “I told the taxi driver faster and reach me to the hospital. I could answer the questions of the driver. In fact, I could not hear and did not know what the driver said.” Marzia says.
When Marzia reaches the hospital, she looks for Husnia room to room. Doctors tell her Husnia is seriously injured and is not feeling well at all. Husnia was transferred to the operations room at 8:am and she was under operations at 11: am. But, she was not able to see Husnia. Husnia’s lungs were damaged due to the explosion and doctors told she needed 250 cc blood. Shrapnel hit the left side of Husnia’s body and her hands, legs, and lungs lost many blood.
Shekiba and Zainab are moved from Watan hospital to emergency hospital
While Marzia was in emergency hospital to look for Husnia, doctors along with one of Marzia’s friends transferred Shekiba and Zainab from Watan hospital to Emergency hospital as they health conditions was not good too. Marzia saw Shekiba at the gate of Emergency hospital saying my heart, my heart. The staff of hospital transfer them to the room and one of the doctors tells Marzia that Shekiba is not injured seriously but she is shocked. Marzia decides to go to Shekiba and comforts her and then she shall take her home. Because, with seeing the injured people, she may gets worse.
Shekiba, Marzia’s sister, returns home
Marzia, an 8 month pregnant woman, takes Shekiba home while two other injured girls were already at home. Shekiba is holding her book and the bloody papers of the preparatory exam and shouting her friends’ names. “I burn these books”, Shekiba says. And “the girls will have an entrance exam after some days.” She adds. Shekiba returned home, feeling psychologically depressed and wounded, after some days of the suicide attack. But Zainab and Husnia were at the hospital in bed yet. Two friends of these three girls were killed in the suicide attack, an event that bothers them too much. When Shekiba was at home she too worried about her two friends and could hardly sleep for a short moment. When she is a sleep, she dreams the day of the explosion and wakes up. She cannot explain what she had seen in the explosion day. When Marzia brought Shekiba home, she followed up a specific symbol. When they reached to the destination, they found that she has been looking for another branch of Kaaj Educational Center to register in it and continue her lessons.
Shekiba, Zainab and Husnia; the three triangles of friendship with inseparable commonalities
These three injured students in Kaaj, have been for many years with each other and have studied together. They have spent many days laughing and crying together. Shekiba and Husnia are 20 and Zainab is 19.
Husnia and Zainab were classmates in Daykondi and if Shekiba’s school was not banned by Taliban, she could be in grade 11 now. The look like three branches of a tall pine/Kaaj and they always were top students. They used to study books together. The used to go to the library together to borrow books and read them at home. They studied many books together including the three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak, Daughters of Taly by Siamak Herawi, The Last Girl by Nadia Morad, Girl , Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis.
“We had bough Shekiba a small bookshelf so that she could place her books there.” Marzia says. Zainab, on the fourth days after she was injured, had told Marzia to buy her The Nation of Love by Elif Shafak.
They worked hard to learn English in order to study at well known international universities. Though they paid their fees late due to economic problems, they were offered discounts for high marks they obtained. They bough similar clothes, and their stuff were similar. They all sat beside each other but they sat back to each other in the day of preparatory exam.
The dream of these tall branches of the pine/Kaaj was to study at international universities. But the hands of the enemy changed to an axe on their life ax and they look forward to recover as soon as possible. However, as they are economically poor people and psychologically are badly affected by the terrorist attack, it maybe hard to recover but as they are strongly determined, they certainly recover.
Note: Due to security threats, fake names were used for this story.
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