Mother struggles to reunite her family
Burnaby Now News - published on 11/04/2006
Christina Myers/Burnaby Now
Family faces seemingly overwhelming obstacles to bring daughter to Canada.

Razieh Nabizadeh speaks Farsi, the official language of Iran, though having grown up in Afghanistan it's not her first language. Her son, Ramin, translates what he's able to for her, but he's still learning English himself, and it's difficult for him to keep up to everything she wants to say.

Her story, like those of many people who have been forced to leave one country for another due to war or in search of a better life, is difficult to piece together and is full of details that are nearly impossible to imagine here in Canada.

But when she holds up a small wallet-sized photo of a young girl - her 15-year-old daughter who is in Afghanistan - and begins to sob, one thing is certain: Nabizadeh is desperate for help.

Nabizadeh was born and raised in Afghanistan, but fled to Iran as a refugee many years ago. Her husband died 12 years ago, and she has raised her four children on her own.

For several years, they waited for approval to come to Canada. Shortly before word arrived that they would be allowed to move here, Nabizadeh's oldest daughter, Najla, was kidnapped.

There were suspects in the case, they say - several men were even arrested but were later released.

Nabizadeh suspects that someone was bribed, and that the people who kidnapped her young daughter are still walking around free. A witness in the case was killed, she says.

Where Najla had gone was a mystery.

In a letter she wrote to the provincial court in Teheran in 2005, Nabizadeh begged officials to look into the case, saying that she was certain her daughter was "suffering at the hands of a few godless people."

Ramin, who is only 14, says they did everything they could to get the case investigated. But they only reached dead ends.

"So many things happen like this," he says resignedly.

When he's asked to find out from his mother why someone would kidnap his sister, who would have been only 13 at the time, he repeats the question to her in Farsi. She's only a few words into her answer when she breaks down again.

Ramin tries to comfort her, then translates into English: Sold, he says. Najla was kidnapped and then sold.

A year ago, they came to Canada - without Najla. They settled in the Edmonds area in Burnaby, and tried to navigate a confusing and overwhelming new world.

"We love Canada," says Ramin. "We can have a better life here."

This is certainly true: at one point in Iran, Ramin himself was working odd jobs to help the family stay afloat.

Here, he and his siblings have already started school, and are learning to improve their English. They found a place to live.

But not knowing where Najla had gone had taken its toll on the whole family, says Ramin.

His mother never sleeps. His younger brother doesn't understand why she's not with them. They all wondered where she was, and what had happened to her.

Then, a few months ago, a miracle: word came from Nabizadeh's cousin in Afghanistan. Najla was with them, having run away and found her way to a relative's home near Harat.

Ramin says she was able to escape from the people who had her. How she got to Afghanistan, they don't know. But reports of kidnapping and trafficking of children in Afghanistan and the Gulf region have been more and more frequent in recent years. Nabizadeh has spoken to her daughter a handful of times.

"She cries and cries. She asks my mother to come get her, there is nowhere for her to go," says Ramin. "They can't take care of her anymore."

He says that, with things the way they are in Afghanistan right now, the family there simply can't afford to support her. She'll have to leave soon.

Nabizadeh says her daughter has an appointment later this month with officials in Afghanistan to sort out the situation, but that without a parent there, she won't be issued a passport and that, because Najla is a girl, she won't be allowed to travel alone.

But getting there to help her means finding a way, on the family's limited income, to buy plane tickets. Nabizadeh has no family or friends here, so her children must travel with her, she says. They're already struggling to make ends meet.

It also means navigating the immigration system - she's not sure if she'll be allowed back into Canada if she leaves, or how to get approval for what she needs to do.

It's been three years since she has seen her daughter.

Nabizadeh doesn't know when she'll see her next - or if she ever will. Every day that passes makes her more desperate.

"Now we just want our sister," says Ramin.

The family has been working with Kwangyoung Conn at the Burnaby Multicultural Society, who has been trying to help connect them with the information they need to help get Najla to Canada. But figuring out where to turn to for help - Foreign Affairs, the local MP, Immigration Canada - is a process that takes time.

Conn says this is the first time she's encountered a situation like this and that she was overwhelmed by the story they told her.

"It's very sad. I don't know how she keeps going," she said.

Conn was so moved by the family's situation that she helped set up a fund through the society to help them with the costs to get their daughter here.

"Sometimes you have to step up and help. Someone is asking for help, and you have to respond," she said.

Conn says that figuring out where to go for assistance can be overwhelming for newcomers who are still getting settled and may have little or no English to help them communicate.

"They're not sure what to do," she said.

Conn says that anyone who would like to donate to the fund can do so either in person or mail a cheque to the Burnaby Multicultural Society at 6255 Nelson Ave., Burnaby, B.C., V5H 4T5.

Cheques should be made out to the society, with a note indicating it's intended for the Nabizadeh family