Sadaf Zahedi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. When she was only three years old, her family moved to Germany. She recalls starting the family journey to her new home, “cold, it was winter, but it was not just the season that brought a cold breeze, it was the living conditions.” Sadaf is now 39 years old and works as a freelance writer, activist, artist, and stage poet. After arriving in Germany, she grew up in the city of Bremen with her two sisters and two brothers.

Sadaf struggled with life: “It was a difficult time, from extremism to racism and oppression. Because my father was a Mujahed I faced many challenges.” Today, Sadaf’s life looks different: “I fought hard for my freedom.” She performs her poems on stage to support fundraising efforts for various organizations. In 2021, her story “The Four Seasons” was selected for a competition by the Erik Neutsch Foundation and it was published by Verlag Neues Leben in 2022. Pursuing her dreams, Sadaf founded the project Education without Books. She says: “The project provides education to illiterate children in rural areas of Afghanistan. It aims to counteract social problems and humanitarian emergencies.” The project started in April 2023 when Sadaf quit her job in management of a dental center to pursue her dream.

Sadaf appreciates the openness, freedom, and growth opportunities that Germany offers, as well as its people. However, she believes that there are still difficult and controversial issues in this country. “These include the refugee policy and the exploitation of refugees who are expected to work for only 80 cents a day, as well as the housing situation for people with lower incomes or socially disadvantaged backgrounds.” Sadaf also highlights the reality of racism in schools and major cities, as well as the poverty experienced by single parents, particularly women.” These issues must be addressed to create a fairer and more just society.”

Among Germans, she finds herself somewhere between acceptance and a very warm welcome, “but there is still an enormous struggle for acceptance and justice, and not being judged for your skin color and ethnic origin,” she says. She continues her story with the experience of her journey from Kabul to Bremen: “I remember immigration and home, the long distances, I remember sorrow and pain and inhumanity on every level. I wasn’t allowed to get to know my culture, neither in Afghanistan nor here in Germany.”

Sadaf gives the following encouragement to her fellow Afghans: “We are a smart and strong people; fight for your dreams, pursue education and become role models for the next generation. Support each other, because without humanity the person perishes.” She wants to pursue one of her dreams through the project she founded, Education without Books: “I would be incredibly proud of every child who could manage to get out of their difficulties one day through our project concept.”

When we ask her to convey a message to the world, Sadaf says:

“Every life should be equally valuable and no one should be marginalized. Instead of weapons of war, I would build schools so that every child in the world could receive an education. I would turn money into food so that no one would have to go hungry. And I would turn people’s hatred and selfishness into love so that we could all be happy together, hand in hand. I would like to take away the belief from people’s minds that you have to be better, have more, or be above someone else. We humans have created this system only to make ourselves feel better, because we exploit the suffering of other people to show us how well we ourselves are doing.”