The more than 100 mostly minor Afghan refugees from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, residing at the Belém Military Hospital in Lisbon, will be evacuated this month and most will be relocated to the North.
It started as a group of 132 people, they arrived in Portugal on December 13, 2021, from Afghanistan after the Taliban took power, they were welcomed by the Portuguese Red Cross (CVP) and temporarily housed, in emergency circumstances, in local provided by the Ministry of Defense.
The initial plan was for them to remain in the Military Hospital of Belém for three months, but the response, which was supposed to be temporary, was prolonged over time and has already exceeded six months.
Along the way, as the coordinator of the CVP Emergency Reception Unit told Lusa, 35 people left the program, between nine minors and 24 adults, and as of April, when the emergency phase was supposed to end, “ things start to get more intense from a negative point of view”, further aggravated by some cases of covid-19 and mandatory lockdowns.
“It is the accumulated tension of having almost a town inside a building”, described Susana Gouveia.
For Furogh, 31, an English teacher at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) for 12 years, the news of his departure brings a sense of relief, but also hope for what the future will bring in Portugal. .reserve you
“Life is a challenge. I was just hoping to get out of danger and Portugal gave me that, even though the adaptation was difficult,” he told Lusa, noting that despite enjoying the country a lot, life as a refugee is difficult, since he left everything behind.
The six-month stay in the Military Hospital also had consequences for the connection between Furogh and the music institute, from which he separated since then and with which he does not continue in the next stage, to the north of the country, between Braga and Guimarães. .
Furogh wants to stay in Lisbon, where he has recently managed to find a job on his own, and where he hopes to have his own house after “leaving this place”. You are sure that Portugal will be your second home.
“There were challenges and living in a hospital was one of them. Living in a large group affects and is difficult, ”she noted, admitting that if she had been alone, she might have been able to find a place for a long time.
Mohamed Tariq Hashmi is 18 years old, he is a student at ANIM and it is with the school that he arrives in Portugal, leaving all the other members of the family in Afghanistan, including his parents, five sisters, his grandmother and uncles.
He says that he loves Portugal because here he can study and practice music, although his dream is to be a doctor, and reveals that his greatest ambition is to bring his whole family, explaining that they are all musicians and that this is a serious problem in the country at this time. moment of origin, where music was prohibited, which left them all without sustenance.
“My only problem is this hospital. It is very difficult. I would prefer to be with my family”, he admitted, revealing that he would also prefer to stay in Lisbon, where he will try to rent an apartment with three other friends.
The link between ANIM and Abdul Basir Mohid, 54, lasted 20 years. A renowned musician, he performed in different countries and worked for 14 years teaching Afghan girls, which earned him a visit to his home by the Taliban and the threat that they would kill him again. “When I came to Portugal, I felt like I was going to be reborn,” he told Lusa.
He compares the six-plus months he spent in a hospital with his wife and son because he says it’s better than what he left behind, revealing that he has nightmares at night when he wakes up thinking he’s still in Afghanistan. “I go to any city, I just want to work,” he said.
Despite the accumulated tension and fatigue, Susana Gouveia positively values the six months of the emergency mission, during which she was assured of food, accommodation, health care, learning Portuguese or music classes at the national conservatory.
“We went beyond the emergency mission because we were very concerned about the socio-professional interaction of these people and being busy from the point of view of physical and mental health,” he described, adding that there was psychological support and concern for physical health. activities.
On the other hand, regarding what did not go well, the psychologist and coordinator of the CVP Emergency Reception Unit pointed out the delay of the integration entities in responding, noting that there are “many unaccompanied minors and many cases in court for attribution of a measure to protect these young people and children and that this gives great weight to the process”.
“We are always on the verge of what is most challenging, which is that young people do not have a family support structure or an adult of reference,” he said, revealing that although these young people arrived with teachers, there were “several peaks of tension ”, a result of living in a space that is not prepared to be welcoming.
Susana Gouveia believes that March or April would have been the ideal moment to find a solution for this group to leave the hospital, but the moment coincided with the start of the war in Ukraine, “which did not help these Afghans at all”.
“Everything was very focused on readiness to respond to Ukraine and they forgot that there were a number of people here with life on hold for three months,” he noted, adding that at the same time expectations among young people about when he would arrive outside over there.
The official goes so far as to say that “there would have been the capacity to manage this crisis better if the war in Ukraine had not occurred” and admitted that, looking at the situation from a professional point of view, “there are first-class and second-class refugees.” , referring to the “many obstacles” felt “by the fact that they are not Ukrainians”.
According to Susana Gouveia, the plan now presented by the Portuguese government is that the group “will soon move to the north of the country.” [para] to continue with their effective professional and social integration”.
He explained that 114 people currently live in the Military Hospital of Belém and that this relocation will be the solution for between 90 and 100, since “there are families that are no longer linked to the ANIM group” and that “practically 20 people do not see with the group “. to the north”.
He also added that the responsibility for housing will be divided between the High Commissioner for Migration and the Social Security Institute, the latter in charge of children and young people up to 18 years of age.
Specifically in relation to these, Susana Gouveia has said that they could stay in residences or in pre-autonomous flats, and that the response of family reception is not considered due to the lack of families.
The change will be made during the month of July, with no date yet set, and meanwhile CVP “has the challenge of the hybrid mission”, that is, maintaining the emergency mission while working on life projects for the transition phase, something atypical for this entity that since 2016 and until last year has welcomed 512 refugees.
For Susana Gouveia, there are lessons to be learned from this whole experience, such as the time of emergency or the relationship between the team and the refugees, highlighting that it has been an exhausting process, in a “very intense, intensive and immersive work”, because you should have a team with more people.
He believes, therefore, that for the mission to have been fully successful, it should have ended two months ago, but that extra time ended up helping to get to know people better and identify even better pathologies that could be more hidden.
In the end, his last concern is that these people go to their new life project taking with them a “lighter memory” of the months spent in the Military Hospital of Belém and that something better superimposes those memories so that the impact “that does not be positive.” .
Source: Observadora
