Somayyeh Mahmoodi, master of Family Counseling and Couple Therapist, born on 04/12/1991 in the ancient and beautiful city of Bamyan, Afghanistan. I have known about war, discrimination and occupation of Afghanistan and the arrival of the Taliban since I was a child.

Sometimes in a country, it is difficult to be a girl, but you have parents who value you and understand you well and are with you in all the hardships and problems. Years passed, we studied, worked and now the story continues ….

After my master’s degree graduation in 2018, I worked for almost 4 years in Kabul as a consultant, university professor, as well in clinics, television, newspapers, universities, schools and the International Office in the field of Family, Children and Gender-Based Violence. The only thing I always thought about was being able to help people, especially women. We were sometimes criticized for being taboo on sex issues in Afghanistan, and we remained silent in Afghanistan’s patriarchal and Third World society. But I never gave up and I tried to raise the level of awareness that is the inalienable right of every woman and girl.

We struggled and tried hard, we fought for 20 years to achieve our great and lofty goals.
It is very difficult, when you are very close to success, to lose everything at once and to be forced to live somewhere else as a refugee or immigrant, to be discouraged and separated from home, work, life, family and people, it is not easy. It takes a lot of courage to be able to get away from everything and start somewhere else from zero.

It may take a long time for the host countries to understand you, or to be able to provide opportunities for you to move on. The hardest part of life is where you have to see the street, city, people, office and even your best friends for the last time. It is usual that you may not be able to visit your family for a while, you may have to put aside your belongings and live elsewhere with a different culture, language and people.

I arrived in Italy on August 27, 2021, and I currently live in an area called Palmoli in Vasto (Chieti). I and others like me can understand how difficult and painful is Immigration. I have lost everything, popularity, reputation, lessons, clinic, university, my students, my friends, my house, my car and everything that made my beautiful memories. Can I rebuild them? I need time and opportunities to make up for all that I have lost.

With the hope to live and see the day when there will be no war anywhere in the world.

Somayyeh Mahmoodi

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