Mohammed Mujeeb Roman

Mohammed was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He describes his happy childhood surrounded by friends and relatives; he was a sporty child. But when he was 17, and preparing for his final exams, the family were forced to evacuate Kabul as the Taliban began to take control. Mohammed describes what he refers to as the ‘hellish scenario’ of attempting to escape from Kabul among two or three thousand people along a road to the airport with concrete walls. He remembers the great assistance one shopkeeper gave to his family; but they failed in that attempt to leave. Fortunately, through mysterious contacts, they were later offered escape via Pakistan and were taken to Islamabad; there they were treated well and in November arrived in Coventry. Later transported to a Newport Pagnell hotel, once out of quarantine they began to meet local people and he comments on their friendliness. He began  playing football again too.

Mohammed describes how he got an initial grasp of English, then studied ESOL and English at MK College. He made a good group of friends, many Ukrainians, and they travelled a lot in the UK.  He still says ‘Afghanistan is my home’, but Britain is his second home. He appreciates the peace of MK and says it is a very good place: ‘to be creative… to implement changes’. He still wants to go to University. He discusses the importance of parental responsibility and their high expectations for children, but says parents should accept their children’s characters and discipline them for mistakes… ‘for a better world’.