Sadiqa, page 1

I'd like to talk about a friend of mine from Afghanistan who has settled in the City that I call home. Her name is Sadiqa and she is one of the nicest people who it's ever been my pleasure to meet. She's been through a lot in her 57 years of existence in both Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the U.S. Her family suffered under the Soviet occupation of her country. She lost a daughter because of a booby-trapped doll. And the suffering got worse when the Taliban took over. They murdered her husband in front of her. She then left for Pakistan with other members of her family. They really weren't welcome there, so her brother came to the U.S. and sent for her and his wife when he got set up here in America.

And life hasn't been completely rosie for her in this country, with not knowing the language and customs, and owing to the fact that some people in this country don't take kindly to foreigners AND Muslims.

Anyway, when I first met her some four plus years ago, I'd say hi to her sometimes. At first, she was kind of shy and nervous. And I couldn't blame her either, because she didn't really know where I was coming from. But eventually, she warmed up to me a bit to the point that when she was volunteering at the meal site in the building that I live in, she would come over and talk to me when she had a couple of minutes between doing things.

Then one day, I asked her if I could take a couple of pictures of her. I was surprised when she actually said yes. So I took three pictures of her. When I got the film developed, I gave her three copies of them. She thanked me for them and took them home with her. After that, I took the other copies of the pictures that I had kept for myself upstairs. I scanned one of the pictures into my computer and cut and pasted it so that her image was the biggest part of the picture. Then I made 20 wallet sized copies of it. I then blew one copy of it into an 8 by 11 picture and put it into a frame. The next Monday, when she came in to volunteer at the meal site, I took it and 17 of the wallet sized piuctures downstairs. When it got to be 1:30 p.m., I asked her if I could give her a little something. She said yes, so I took the frame with her picture in it out of a bag and gave it to her. I can still see how both her eyes and her face just lit up with joy as she laid eyes on the frame with her picture in it. I lost track of how many times she thanked me for it. She even gave me a hug and a kiss. I then gave her an envelope that had the 17 wallet sized pictures in it and told her that they were hers, too. When she was done with me, she went outside to where the other workers and volunteers fior the website were and showed each and everyone the framed picture. She told Sandy and Curtis, the two paid staff members at the meal site that that was the nicest thing that anybody had ever done for her in her whole life. It was simple to me, but I'm glad that she thought so much of what I had done for her.

I told her that she made it that easy for me to be that nice to her and that she was one of the nicest people that I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. We still talk to each other a lot. I know that it will never go beyond was it already is betwen us, a very strong friendship. But then, that was more then I could have ever hoped with her. She knows that there are people that she can trust and like now. I'm happy I was able to show her not only that, but also that not all Americans are bad and untrustworthy.

EDIT: Edited by the SPCP (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Paragraphs)

[edit on 27-2-2009 by Gazrok]