Nabila with her siblings (red sweater, on right)
Nabila Nadjimzada is originally from Afghanistan. At the young age of 7, the Russians invaded, bringing the communist party. Like many others, her family fled the country to Pakistan. The Nadjimzada family fortunately had some money and could pay mujahidin to escort them. They provided them with the safest routes, and donkeys for people to ride if they were tired. For the 3-day and 2-night walk, Nabila did not ride the donkeys because they tended to walk right next to the very edge. When they arrived in Peshawar, Nabila had glass in her foot, so she her dad walked around trying to find a hospital. But what they didn’t know was how strict and religious Peshawar was. When they were walking around without a head scarf it upset people, so when her father asked one man where the hospital was the other man spat in his face and said things such as “get your dirty whore daughter and they rest of your family out of my country.” “I try not to remember a whole lot of this, but the spit is something I’ll never forget.” Nabila told me. They stayed there for one month before they knew that they had to leave, so they moved to Islamabad for what they thought would be a short time but ended up being 2 years. In that time, things were better. The people were nicer, the rules were less strict, but they still wanted to leave and come to America. They needed an American sponsor which was a slight issue because they knew almost no one. Luckily, Nabila’s father worked with some people from the American government and they eventually sponsored the family. Nabila was 13 when she and her family moved to America. Since then, her life has been on a pretty good track. When she first started school she was put in 10th grade because she knew the material, but didn’t speak English. Eventually, she got it and graduated with a 4.0. from there. She studied in college and was on her way to law school but had her first and only child instead. After that she studied to be an accountant, and eventually bought a restaurant called La Shish which she now owns and runs with the help of her friend Patricia (and Patricia has worked for Nabila since she was 18 years old).