A way to peace
By Sarah Chuby ’03
Mohib Israr remembers life as a young child living in a Pakistan refugee camp after his family fled Afghanistan during the 1979 Soviet invasion.
“We left home when I was 5,” says Israr, a CMU Afghan graduate student and Rotary International scholar. “We lived in tents, and my job was to collect garbage so we could make fires to keep our family warm at night.”
As a young teen, Israr’s camp was stuck in the mountains while Russians bombed them.
“It was 15 days of bombing. I didn’t know who would live or die. I remember seeing so many burned and dying people. I was sick for a week after everything was over,” he says. “I still have nightmares.”
As an adult, he says the Taliban tried to abduct him – but kidnapped and tortured his younger brother by mistake.
“They called my family and threatened to kill him – thinking it was me,” he says. “After my parents told the Taliban that they had the wrong person, they wanted to do an exchange. But my parents didn’t know where I was. So after 21 days, they let my brother go. But they told my family that if they ever found me….”
As he talks, there is serenity and determination in Israr’s brown eyes. It is almost hard to believe he has seen and experienced so much. And he is only 32.
Sitting in CMU’s Park Library, the polite Afghan graduate student reflects on his life and is very open about it. He says his experiences have made him stronger and have pushed him to come to the United States for an education.
Israr says that things in Afghanistan are changing for the better, but it will take time. And it is people like him who are aiding the process.
“My country is so torn. The only way to improve things is through education. Knowledge is power,” he says. “And the best place in the world to get an education is the United States. I wanted to come here so I can better teach the people back home. When we have more education, we will have peace and stability.”
Israr says he learned the importance of education when in the refugee camp.
While he was out collecting trash, Israr, then 7, noticed a group of youths surrounding an adult. He stood on the fringe of the group – a class of students – and listened.
During the class, a United Nations representative came by to pass out shoes and hats to all of the students. “I had never worn shoes before,” he says. “I thought, ‘We get shoes? I better keep coming back.’”
They didn’t have textbooks, notebooks, or writing utensils, but they learned the alphabet and Islamic religious teachings. Israr faithfully attended class until the Soviets withdrew in 1992.
“During that time, so many people lost the opportunity for education,” he says. “I was one of the lucky ones who found the means to an education.”
Israr says he had wanted to come to the United States for years, but the political status and cost made it very difficult.
“Studying in the United States is my dream. It has the best education in the world,” he says. “I worked for years to make that dream come true, and finally it did. Sometimes I still cannot believe that I live in a peaceful place where you can openly and actively seek knowledge.”
A full scholarship from the Rotary International Club enabled Israr to work toward earning a CMU master’s degree in education. He taught English at Nangarhar University in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, when the Rotary International Club chose him to receive the scholarship.
The Mount Pleasant Rotary Foundation decided a few years ago to provide the funding for an Ambassador Scholar, says Eileen Jennings, a Mount Pleasant Rotary member. “The Rotary Foundation conducts a variety of programs to encourage international understanding,” she says. “This was one way to do that.”
Jennings, who also is CMU’s general counsel, says Israr’s scholarship is the first one awarded to anyone from the Middle Eastern country. The Mount Pleasant district worked in conjunction with the Rotarians from San Diego to interview a number of candidates from Afghanistan. Judy Prince, director of graduate student services, says Israr is the first student from Afghanistan to study at CMU in more than a decade.
“I chose CMU because, when I looked at the pictures it was green, flat, and peaceful looking,” says Israr, who also is studying English as a second language. “It seemed so nice, so safe. It was just how I pictured a (storybook) hometown.”
Israr’s scholarship will pay for one year at CMU. After that he will begin a graduate assistantship, which will provide him classroom experience and the means to stay at CMU. But as Israr walks the Mount Pleasant campus, he can’t feel at peace because his wife and six children are back in Afghanistan. He worries about their safety, even though his brother-in-law is helping out the family.
“My wife is a very strong woman, and she encouraged me to come here because she knew this was my dream, just as I encourage her to follow her dreams,” Israr says. “We support each other. But it was still difficult to leave. We understand that this experience – although it is difficult to be away – is better for us, our children, and our country. It is a small price to pay for such a great opportunity.”
A long way home
Home is where you go to feel safe, Israr says. But in his home, safety is a luxury. He remembers when things began to change. People were beaten, threatened, and would even disappear.
Israr says he noticed the Taliban influence in his country when he enrolled at Kabul University in Afghanistan. While at the university, he had several run-ins with the Taliban, who ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
“If you do not have a long beard or wear a turban, they will beat you,” he says, acknowledging that he was beaten several times. “They look for people who do not follow (the Taliban’s) rules, which were not set by Prophet Muhammad.”
Israr returned to Pakistan and taught English after graduation. But he wanted to return home. So in 2003, Israr took a position in Jalalabad and worked for the United Nations as an interpreter. He later took a United Nations job working on disarmament. He collected weapons, including missiles, from would-be terrorists and offered them education and training in return.
“I knew that these men were only fighting because they had no other way to take care of their family,” he says. “I wanted to help them to get out of that life, to give them knowledge to do something else besides fight.”
He says it was during that time that he was named to the Taliban’s “to be killed” list and the Taliban tried to abduct him, but took his younger brother by mistake. He eventually resigned from that position and put his effort into teaching at the university level.
To battle the Taliban, Israr doesn’t use weapons – he uses knowledge. He teaches his students that fighting is not the answer.
Although he could get a job anywhere, Israr plans to return to Afghanistan after earning his graduate degree. He’ll return to Nangarhar University, become the English department chairman, and conduct English programs for people in Afghanistan.
Is he afraid to return home?
“People threaten my life because I share knowledge,” he says. “I am not afraid. It is because only with education will there be understanding and peace in my country.”
Israr says he will keep trying to make a difference in Afghanistan, no matter the cost.
“I might not make an impact right now, but there will be change for the better. Knowledge helps me, my wife, my children, and my students,” he says. “I will return home and work to make it better.” •
