Fleeing Afghanistan alone as a child

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1999, Waheed Arian left his family in Afghanistan to seek refuge in the UK. He was just 15.

He was escaping violence, poverty and the threat of being recruited as a child soldier.

He tells Vicky Farncombe about how a dream of one day becoming a doctor sustained him.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Dr Waheed Arian as a child. Credit: Dr Waheed Arian)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to tell you why I love
0:03.7	podcasting I'm Natasha Aronson I'm an assistant commissioner for the BBC and I work on
0:09.4	making podcasts my real passion is discovering unbelievable unheard stories and working with the biggest
0:16.9	stars who can really bring those stories to life.
0:20.0	I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final edit.
0:26.0	There's nothing like it.
0:28.0	What makes BBC podcast special is that we're working for you.
0:31.0	So whatever we commission has to reflect the things that you care about
0:34.4	and love wherever you are in the UK. So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to
0:39.5	discover. Have a listen on BBC sounds. You're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Vicky
0:52.4	Fancum. In the 1990s thousands of children
0:56.4	fled Afghanistan alone escaping violence, poverty and the risk of being
1:01.2	recruited as soldiers.
1:03.0	Waheed Arian was 15 when he left his family hoping for a new life in the UK.
1:09.0	For a moment I thought that the plane would be turned around and that was the time that really all my hopes and dreams my fears
1:18.6	Everything came together and it was just absolutely blowing my head. I had so much pressure building up that I could not think I could not see people in front of me. I couldn't digest the fact that you know I had ruined it.
1:33.0	Bahid Arian was born in Afghanistan in 1983 during the Soviet Afghan War.
1:39.0	I remember the bombs, the soldiers outside jets and helicopter gunships in the sky.
1:45.8	And that was the childhood that I remember.
1:48.9	At the age of five, his family fled to Pakistan,
1:52.3	where they lived in a migrant camp.
1:55.0	There we were safe from the bombs and the rockets, but the conditions were inhumane.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.