Far from Home

We have forgotten the plight of Afghans who fled to India, and continue to suffer

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"I may not agree with all or even most of the tribal traditions, but it seems to me that, out there, people live more authentic lives. They have a sturdiness about them. A refreshing humility. Hospitality too. And resilience. A sense of pride. Is that the right word, Suleiman? Pride?"

THESE lines from Khaled Hosseini's novel, And The Mountains Echoed, describes people from the countryside of Afghanistan. This statement came to life for me in 2022, when I first started shooting a documentary on the Afghan refugee community in New Delhi. The documentary, Far from Home, opened last March at the American Documentary and Animation Festival in Palm Springs, California. The Afghan people's inherent sense of pride stayed with me throughout the shoot of the film and beyond. One of the subjects I interviewed lived in a two-bedroom apartment-far from the image one would expect of a typical refugee family in India. "I want my kids to live their best life," she told me.

The Afghans consider themselves displaced, but not exiled.

For them, leaving Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries made sense as it would lead to a better life. In Far from Home, the main subject, Samira, keeps iterating the same sentiment throughout the film, of wanting to get out of India for a better future for her sons. Unfortunately, for the Afghans in India, this may be a pipe dream.