A young American soldier. She is holding a toddler in her arms. And looks at it fondly. “I feel so bad for her,” says Afghan Hariwa, showing the photo with the endearing scene. “She was killed in a bomb attack at Kabul airport.” It happened just after the plane with Hariwa on board had taken off, on its way to the Netherlands. She left just in time.
Now Hariwa is living with her mother and sister in a house in Helmond. They are still recovering from the intense flight to the Netherlands in August last year when the Taliban took over the country at breakneck speed. And now she faces an uncertain financial future. Hariwa went from a high position in a ministry in Afghanistan to welfare. “In Afghanistan I was very big, here I am nobody.” It is hard to swallow for Hariwa, who obtained her master’s degree after five years of study.
“Your suitcase or your life, we were told”
But she considers herself lucky. “I’m safe here. I have a lot of freedom here that I didn’t have as a woman in Afghanistan. I couldn’t wear what I wanted there. I couldn’t exercise there or go to the movies. I have written articles that were very critical of the Taliban. If I couldn’t get away, they would have killed me.”
Hariwa’s brother translated for the Dutch army and so she was able to go to the Netherlands. “When we arrived here, we were well looked after. We lived in a tent for six months, which was difficult. It was very cold. We couldn’t take any luggage. Your suitcase or your life, we were told. Rather take an extra child with you on the plane than the suitcase. We came up with nothing at all. But we survived.”
“I was very surprised by how quickly the money ran out”
Hariwa has to build a life in the Netherlands from scratch. “When we just got our house, we didn’t have a mattress to sleep on. We got 6000 euros to buy everything, but I was very surprised how quickly it ran out. For example, the health insurer immediately wanted 1000 euros.” The 6000 euros is now deducted from the social assistance benefit of Hariwa, her mother and her sister. It will be waived after three years if she is still on a low income.”
According to Marco Diederen of the LEVgroep in Helmond, who supervised Hariwa, refugees are often surprised by the Dutch costs. “Many people also like to send money to family. They are then pressured to send something when they cannot afford it. Then you see people getting into trouble. They often do not realize how high the fixed costs are here.”
“We made mistakes that prevented us from getting our benefits. That was very difficult.”
Hariwa panicked over a suddenly rising energy bill. “Suddenly we ran out of money in the budget for food. Now there is a price ceiling and I am relieved again. But it’s not easy to find your way around here. When we first moved here, ten letters from authorities fell on our doorstep every day with forms that we had to fill out. We made mistakes that prevented us from getting our benefits. That was very difficult.”
Hariwa is only 28, but is already worried about her retirement. “I’ve heard that you don’t get a pension if you don’t start working in the Netherlands until you’re thirty. Does that mean that I will have worked for 37 years and then end up on benefits again?” To receive a full state pension, you must have lived in the Netherlands for at least 50 years. The pressure to look for a good job is high at Hariwa. “But I don’t know how much more I need to study to make my master’s degree valid here.”
Since it is still dangerous for Hariwa to use her real name on the Internet, her name has been changed. Her real name is known to the editors.
