Maryam Gholamali has placed plants all over her apartment: in the bathroom, on her library, on the edge of the windows, on her table, and even outside, in front of her front door. ” HAS Kabul too, I was full. They resuscitate in me the joy of life ”, Entrusts the 34 -year -old Afghan, exiled to Lille since the Taliban's takeover, in August 2021. His studio, installed in a former hospital converted by the town hall to accommodation for asylum seekers, in the Grand Palais district, is bathed in light. “I fought to get the luminous accommodation possible”, she slips.
In September 2021, Maryam Gholamali joined other Afghans here Working, like her, in the cinema world. The workers were still repainting the walls. Today, the old ramps of the hospital still run along the corridors. “When I landed in Lille, it was the start of the greyness. It was raining constantly. My first studio was dark, like my mental state. I went to French lessons organized by the town hall, but I did not understand anything ”, recalls the young woman with restrained eyes and protruding cheekbones, typical features of Hazaras, the Shiite ethnic minority of Afghanistan.
Since their entry into Kabul in 2021, the Taliban Sunnis attacked it, as during their first takeover of the country in 1996, not only to women but also to the Hazara community. For Maryam, living in Afghanistan was no longer possible. Brutal tearing in her country has caused her her violent panic attacks. ” I couldn't sleep. As soon as I closed my eyes, I had nightmares ”, she says.
“We would cry together”
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Source: Lemonde