Award-winning Haroon targets social worker career after fleeing Afghanistan on his own aged 14
Double award-winner Haroon Ahmadzai is targeting a career as a social worker after restarting his education with York College having been forced to flee Afghanistan on his own at the age of 14.
Haroon was presented with the In the Face of Adversity prize at this summer’s York Mix Hero Awards and followed that accolade up three weeks later by being named ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Student of the Year at York College & University Centre’s REACH Awards ceremony.
After the militant Taliban group seized power back in his home country, Haroon’s heartbroken mother demanded that her son got out of the country as quickly as possible due to risks for his safety because family members had served in the toppled regime’s armed forces.
He then endured an arduous one-and-a-half-year journey before reaching these shores, almost succumbing to extreme thirst and hyperthermia along the way, not to mention the beatings he received from unscrupulous border police.
Having found happiness and a safe haven in Newton-on-Ouse, Haroon then had to contend with a death in his loving foster family.
His story could, without doubt, be turned into a film, given the suffering he has been subjected to.
But he is beginning to gain control of his own script and it is one he would now be able to write in English, having been charged double on his bus commutes in and out of College when he first arrived in the country because he thought the driver was inquiring about his marital status when he was asked if he wanted a single!
As well as immersing himself in village life – volunteering at Newton-on-Ouse’s Mind charity shop, playing cricket and washing pots at local pub The Dawnay Arms – Haroon, who turned 18 this month, is now preparing to study for his English GSCE at College in 2024/25 when he will also enrol on a Painting & Decorating course.
After he has gained the required GSCE grade, he then intends to take his first steps towards his preferred profession on the college’s Diploma in Health & Social Care course.
Remembering his journey to the UK, he said: “My family decided to send me out of Afghanistan when I was 14. I didn’t know why at the time, but I later found out that they were scared that something would happen to me because members of my family were in the military.
“It sometimes doesn’t feel real or like it was me when I think back. I walked through deserts in Iran and Pakistan which were so hot and I had no water and, then, I walked for three days in Bulgaria when it was -12C and so cold.
“Both were really, really difficult, but it wasn’t just the weather. At times, there were people on the borders and soldiers who wanted to bully you and had no consideration for how old you were and what could happen to a child because of their actions.
“I went through a lot of big things at a very young age, which can sometimes make me feel upset but, when I met my foster family in England, it was the start of my new life. Now, I would like to be a social worker.
“My tutor has said she thinks I would be good at it and I know I could support people a lot after my life experiences. I need to improve my English first, so I’m doing Painting & Decorating next year and GCSE English together. It will be good to have those Painting & Decorating skills but, after I pass that, I want to do Health and Social Care.”
Haroon only started formal education in Afghanistan at the age of seven and the one word he knew on arrival in England was “yes”.
The language barriers placed him in some “funny situations” at times, none more so than during his spot of transport trouble.
“I’d ask for a ticket and the driver would say, ‘Single?’ and I’d think, ‘Why is this driver always asking me if I’m single or married?’,” he laughed. “Eventually, I asked Tilly (Dickenson), my Progress Coach at College, why bus drivers in England ask if you’re single or married and she quickly told me what he was really saying and to stop telling him I was single!
“Now, my English is much better and it’s all because of how the tutors work hard with us by showing easier ways for us to understand the language.”
Away from Campus, Haroon has found a foster home where he has been made to feel as loved as he is by his own family back in Afghanistan.
When his foster mum went to live in Austria, he moved in with his foster aunty but, after she sadly passed away six months ago, he is now living with his foster “grandma and grandpa” until his foster mum returns to the UK.
“We have a very strong relationship and I feel like I am living with my real family,” Haroon declared. “They have made me feel like that.
“I respect them the same way that I respect my own mum and grandma in Afghanistan. I’m still able to speak to my mum on WhatsApp every two or three days.
“She and my sister are safe and OK. I’m the youngest child in the family, so she is very happy when she gets to talk to me and sees that I am safe.”
Newton-on-Ouse could probably not be any further removed from Haroon’s birthplace, but he is embracing his rural surroundings.
Despite initial reservations, he is also now a fan of English cuisine with a Sunday Roast his new favourite meal.
“When I visit my friends in Selby and eat Afghan food now, my foster family get the stomach ache tablets out ready for me when I get back because my body can’t cope with spicy food anymore!” he laughs.
One similarity between Yorkshire village life and his homeland, though, is a shared passion for cricket.
It was the only sport he was allowed to play growing up in Afghanistan and, during his first season turning out for Clifton Alliance’s fourth team, he was the side’s leading wicket taker with 24 in 12 matches.
“The communication when I’m playing sports helps me and the easiest way to deal with the things I have seen in my life is to keep busy and to think about my future rather than my past,” he pointed out.
