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Afghanistan

We Married Anyway

I know I have to start and build a new life from the beginning.

Editing by Twila Bird
Photography by Lindsay Silsby
Ahmad and his wife
Ahmad and his wife
Ahmad and his wife

Editing by Twila Bird

Photography by Lindsay Silsby

Interview in Greece, July 2016

In the name of God, my name is Ahmad. I am here with my wife and 23-day old son. We are from Afghanistan.

I came here for personal reasons. My family and my wife’s family didn’t agree to our marriage, so we went to the court to get permission to marry. Her family wanted to give her to another man from their family (tribe) who was already married and had a wife. And my family wanted me to marry one of the girls in our tribe. They said she was a foreigner to our family. In the end, we went to the court again and we got married there without our family’s permission.

After we got married, we didn’t have a place to live. We stayed in our friend’s house for a while. Then her family found me and assaulted me. I ended up with stitches in my mouth and a broken leg. They also took my motorbike. My leg was in a cast for a month and during this time someone had to accompany me to work for my protection.  Because of this assault, we decided to leave.

We went to Kabul and stayed there for a short time. During our stay we had lot of phone threats from our family. Meanwhile, my wife got pregnant and we decided this city is not safe for us any more and it is time to leave the country. We heard that Europe was a safe place for living, so I sold everything that we owned and we left.

Our journey took about 35-36 days. In Pakistan, we had to stay in the very hot desert for 4 nights and 5 days. The smugglers gave us muddy water for drinking. They said the trip from the Iran border to Turkey might be hard for my wife because of her pregnancy. They told us it would take 5 hours to the next stop where another group were waiting for us. It was mountains and snowing. After 18 hours of climbing and hiking we finally arrived. After that we were detained for 5 days by the smugglers in Turkey until the money was transferred to them. They locked 35-40 people in a big room and nobody could go in or out.

After they got the money, they transferred us to Istanbul, and after 2 weeks, we went by bus to Izmir. In Izmir they put 54 people in a 75-meter boat and took us to Greece. We are living in very hot tents and in a very difficult situation.

I want to ask developed countries such as USA and Europe to help us and give refuge to our helpless people. We are living in a very tough situation.

I know I have to start and build a new life from the beginning. I hope for the day that war, prejudice, violence, corruption and feud between families (tribes) are over in my country and it is safe for us to go back home. Thank you. 

Ahmad and his wife 2
Ahmad and his wife Ahmad and his wife
Ahmad and his child 1
Ahmad and his child
Ahmad and his child 2
Ahmad and his child Ahmad and his child
Informed Consent

Our team members obtain informed consent from each individual before an interview takes place. Individuals dictate where their stories may be shared and what personal information they wish to keep private. In situations where the individual is at risk and/or wishes to remain anonymous, alias names are used and other identifying information is removed from interviews immediately after they are received by TSOS. We have also committed not to use refugee images or stories for fundraising purposes without explicit permission. Our top priority is to protect and honor the wishes of our interview subjects.

What would you do if you had to leave everything behind?

By the end of 2024, more than 123.2 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced from their homes due to war, persecution, or human rights abuses.

An increase of 7.2 million over 2023, that’s more than 19,619 people every day — roughly one person every 4.4 seconds.

They arrive in refugee camps and other countries, like the US, seeking the one thing they’ve lost: safety.

Fleeing political imprisonment, ethnic violence, religious persecution, gang threats, or war crimes, they come with what little they managed to carry:

Legal papers – if they’re lucky.

A single backpack.

Sometimes a child’s hand in theirs.

They also carry the weight of what they left behind: fractured families, homes they’ll never return to, professions they loved, friends and relatives they may never see again.

They carry loss most of us can’t imagine – but also the truth of what they’ve endured.

At TSOS, we believe stories are a form of justice. When someone shares their experience of forced displacement, they reclaim their voice. And when we amplify that voice – through film, photography, writing, and advocacy – the world listens. Hearts soften. Communities open. Policy begins to shift.

That shift matters. Because when neighbors understand instead of fear…

when lawmakers see people, not politics…

when a teacher knows what her student has survived…

Rebuilding life from the ashes becomes possible.

We’re fighting an uphill battle. In today’s political climate, refugee stories are often twisted or ignored. They’re reduced to statistics, portrayed as national threats, or used to score political points.

The truth – the human, nuanced truth – gets lost, and when it does, we lose compassion.

We are here to share their truth anyway.

At TSOS, we don’t answer to headlines or algorithms. We are guided by a simple conviction: every person deserves to be seen, heard, and welcomed.

Our work is powered by the people we meet — refugees and asylum seekers rebuilding after loss, allies offering sanctuary, and communities daring to extend belonging.

Your support helps us share their stories — and ensure they’re heard where they matter most.

“What ultimately persuaded the judge wasn’t a legal argument. It was her story.”

— Kristen Smith Dayley, Executive Director, TSOS

Will you help us keep telling the truth?

No donation is too small — and it only takes a minute of your time.

Why give monthly?

We value every gift, but recurring contributions allow us to plan ahead and invest more deeply in:

  • New refugee storytelling and advocacy projects
  • Resources to train and equip forcibly displaced people to share their own stories
  • Public education that challenges fear with empathy
  • Local efforts that help communities welcome and integrate newcomers

As our thank-you, monthly supporters receive fewer fundraising messages — and more stories of the impact they’re making possible.

You don’t have to be displaced to stand with those who are.

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