From Nightmare To Dream Come True,

Afghan Professor Finds Refuge In Connecticut

By Nancy K. Crevier

“This story is about the fears and dreams of people who must struggle to live.” —Dr Abdullah Mehraban

In the Subway shop at 71 South Main Street, regular customers know “Abdul” as the franchise owner who greets them warmly, treats his help firmly but respectfully, and is not afraid to step in and do some sandwich making himself. What they may not know is that the man in the apron is Dr Abdullah Mehraban, an esteemed professor of history, social studies, and geography at Kabul University in Afghanistan and at the Teacher Training College, and a professor of philosophy and sociology at The Institute of Accounting and Administration, as well as a researcher at the Academy of Sciences. He was the head of the library, and president of planning and culture at the Academy of Sciences. He was an advisor to Afghani president Dr Najibullah, and has published dozens of textbooks and academic publications in Afghanistan.

He was also one of the most outspoken against the Islamic fundamentalists. His strong beliefs in equality, democracy, and education made him a target for those who would see Afghanistan’s intellectual class destroyed.

He has gone from being at the head of the class to behind the counter for one reason only: he must. He must provide for his family, and he must put behind him the years of war that stripped him of his prestige in a country he loved, and he must bide his time until he can once again claim his place as a respected instructor.

Dr Mehraban has written an autobiography in hopes that it will be published and become a stepping-stone from shopkeeper back to the halls of education. It is called Ferar Escape, and on the pages of the manuscript, now clipped carefully into a thick binder, the story of his life unfolds. The title itself actually has threefold meaning, for above the word “Escape” and the Afghani word “Ferar,” which also means “escape,” is the Dari language script for “escape.” The repeat of the word three times, said Dr Mehraban, signifies the three times he escaped the threats of death.

As a supporter of women’s and human rights, he was targeted for death, first by the Communist government when he spoke out against them; then by the Islamic fundamentalists; and finally, by the Taliban.

Dr Mehraban wrote Ferar Escape in his native Dari language, and said he is especially grateful to his youngest daughter, 17-year-old Spenta, who did a great deal of the translating into English for him. His daughter’s teacher and family friend Marie De Chalo, he said, was instrumental in editing his writing, and printing it out on the computer for him. “I started the book in 2008, and completed it in 2010, but Spenta and Marie were a great help,” he said.

“My story starts from the beginning of my life and explains the Afghanistan culture, economy, and politics. It has new information for people who are not familiar with the culture and the religions, and so forth,” said Dr Mehraban. Much of the news that comes out of media in Afghanistan to other parts of the world, he said, is propaganda. The media also tends to focus on the negative news, he said, “but there are also stories of happiness and rich cultural roots,” he writes in Ferar Escape. He hopes that his own life story will enlighten readers.

“It is a sunny, relaxing Sunday afternoon. I am sitting on a rock at a beach in Connecticut called Hammonasset…” begins the prologue to Ferar Escape. “I am free of stress; I am filled with peace. How different it was years ago. I have known pain, loss and deception. I have been forced from my native country; I have had to leave my family; I have been sentenced to death. I have had to bargain for my freedom. I have seen my passion for human rights be trampled by fundamentalist regimes. Now, years later, I am sitting on a rock, looking at the ocean….”

Born into a highly respected family in the village of Qurian, near the Iran border, in 1945, Dr Mehraban’s father was the head of the village. But his parents died early deaths, and their youngest son’s life became one of struggle, as he was raised alternately by his grandmother and sister. It was his grandmother, though, who emphasized the importance of an education.

He graduated from Teacher Training High School in Herat in 1963, and went on to earn his degree from the Academy of Teacher Training, and his doctorate from the University of Tajikistan.

In 1994, married to Monesa, also a teacher, and with six children ranging in age from 6 months to 15 years, Dr Mehraban spoke out against Islamic fundamentalist Mega Hedin while working with a human rights group. Targeted for death, he fled with his family, as well as his two brothers’ families, to Pakistan, under the cover of night. All that they took was what would fit into one truck.

In Pakistan, there was no work, and after six months, he found he had been followed and was being hunted there. The family once more packed up, moving this time to Russia, where their eldest son, Yamal, was living. “Conditions there were very bad. The Communist government was broke, and mafias ruled the country,” recalled Dr Mehraban. “We did not have anything,” he said. What they did have, though, was a desire to improve their conditions. With Yamal and two other Afghanis, he rented a car, and like many other Afghan refugees in Moscow, set up in a huge outdoor flea market, selling clothes, shoes, and other items imported form China, Turkey, and Pakistan, from the car.

“It was very hard work, and very cold, often way below freezing,” he said. It was not uncommon for the vendors to be robbed of the day’s earnings by the people who were supposed to protect them: the Russian police. Five times during the two years he lived in Moscow, Dr Mehraban was arrested on false charges and had to pay a bribe to be released.

Working Together

But he believed in the strength of the people, and urged the other Afghani refugees to work together. They rented a portion of a large apartment building and set up the Afghan Business Center in Moscow, of which his job was secretary, and organizing member. What they did not know, was that the 18th floor of the building was the headquarters for the Russian mafia. The business community was soon “solicited” by the mafia for $60,000 in order to continue doing business. “We did not have that money, of course,” said Dr Mehraban. Through his efforts, a meeting was set up with the head of the mafia. “I went there with five committee members. It was really dangerous. There were dogs, and men with machine guns.”

But when the mafia leader realized that Dr Mehraban was a professor, he softened. His own father had been a teacher in Moscow. “He told me, ‘Teachers should never have to be afraid.’” Negotiations ended with the men agreeing on a sum of $5,000 — to buy cigarettes for the mafia guards — “and he promised that the police and mafia would not bother us anymore.”

He attempted to return to Afghanistan, looking for work, at one point, but with the Taliban now ruling, it was “far too dangerous,” said Dr Mehraban. Without the long beard and turban required by the Taliban commanders, “I stuck out,” he said. He returned after just a short and frightening time, to Russia.

Extreme Fundamentalism

In his book, Dr Mehraban writes about the effect of extreme fundamentalism on the citizens of his native country, and the Taliban in particular. “A prime example of this extreme fundamentalist thinking is the creation of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban has tried to obliterate any ties to modern civilization, plotted to sponsor the growth of international terrorism, and worked to spread hate throughout the world…. Intellectuals and artists have struggled to escape from the constraints of the Taliban.” He remains passionate in his beliefs, despite the fact that those very beliefs endanger him.

Dr Mehraban’s luck began to change when his name landed on a short list of community leaders chosen by the US State Department to attend a seminar in New York City, to discuss the return from Italy of the exiled king of Afghanistan. His negotiation skills and bribe money once more had to come into play, though, as he sought a copy of his passport, which had been taken. At the Russian Embassy, he agreed that the new passport would not include his title of “Doctor,” and would list his occupation as a shopkeeper. With the passport, he was able to obtain a visa to attend the seminar.

Following the seminar, he applied for and was granted political asylum in the United States. It was not for three more difficult years, though, that his family was able to join him in America.

At the seminar, he had made friends with a fellow Afghani. “He owned a Subway in Clinton, Conn., so I worked for him. I had applied for teaching positions, but I had no car, no license. I could not afford the classes to be licensed to teach here. One night, I was cleaning the floors and crying. Why had this happened? Why am I, a professor, now mopping floors? But then I realized, this is the life. And it is better than being killed, or losing my family,” said Dr Mehraban.

By working 90-hour weeks, he was able to save enough to buy his own Subway franchise, in East Haven. “My family was shocked when they discovered my work in the United States. They think it is a very low job. But I told them, we have to accept. Life does not always go up,” he said.

In 2006, he sold his first franchise and purchased the Subway franchise in Newtown.

“In Russia, our dream was always to go to the US. We are always thinking of a place to be safe, a place that valued human rights, democracy, freedom, women’s rights. Our dream came true,” Dr Mehraban said.

One More Dream

“I hope that this book can be published, that I will find a publisher,” he said. He believes the book will help Americans to be sympathetic to what is happening to the average person in Afghanistan, and better understand the religions and culture of his native country. “People can read my whole story,” said Dr Mehraban, who has lectured at high schools, libraries, and other venues. “They can learn more about what is truly happening.”

He is grateful for the life he has made as a business person in America, but there is still one dream he would like to achieve: to teach again. “I want to go back and get the degrees I need to teach in the United States,” said Dr Mehraban. Ferar Escape, he hopes, will help him achieve that dream.

His Subway business has allowed him, in the meantime, to educate his children, a goal that he believes is most important for now. He has emphasized that to his children, he said. Five of his six children went to Morgan High School in Clinton, where they have lived since emigrating to the United States. Yamal, educated in Afghanistan, attended broadcasting school in the United States, as well; his daughters Vida and Aria attended New Haven Community College; his sons Hoshang and Ourang attended New England Technical College, and Ourang has received a scholarship to attend Harvard, where he plans to study medicine. All of his children are working, and his wife has found a job in retail.

He does not believe it will ever be possible for him to return to the country of his birth, citing the dangers that remain there for him, so long as fundamentalists remain in power in Kabul. But he laments the condition of the country and the plight of the Afghani people. Money from the US government, he said, is not used for the benefit of the people there. He would like to advise the United Nations and Afghanistan Embassy in New York on the millions of dollars that have been allocated to help the children in Afghanistan. With others from the Afghan community, Dr Mehraban is working on a project, The Role of the Food to the Development of the Children, to help get nutritious foods like raisins or nuts delivered to the children of Afghanistan.

“Everybody from Afghanistan has a story like me,” said Dr Mehraban, “but I have written it down.”

“The story of my life is testimony to the fact that most people’s lives do not follow a straight line,” he writes near the end of his manuscript, “but have ups and downs, like the waves of the ocean. Appreciate the life you have. Take my story to heart.”