World Poetry Proudly Presents Wida Tausif from Afghanistan and New Zealand!

Featured Afghan Youth Poet.

Afghan New Zealander,  Wida Tausif, born in Afghanistan in 1992, comes from a very well educated family; her mother a teacher and her father a ‘government director’ and as has been the case for many Afghans, Wida and her family fled to Pakistan and stayed in Peshawar for the next 9 years. Her father and brother were the only breadwinners in the family at that time and life was uncertain. They decided to register with the United Nations High Commission to find a safer environment for the family to live. Encountering many hurdles along the way, they were eventually granted residency to New Zealand, which Wida felt was ‘the furthest part of the world’….

In 2011 Wida moved to Melbourne due to the earthquake that struck in Christchurch. She now enjoys living in Melbourne, a much safer environment where she has an equal chance for a first-class future.

Wida successfully completed high school in 2010 and is quiet content. With a very real talent for writing about her homeland and her many emotional experiences, she puts into words the often traumatic and difficult transition from Afghanistan to Peshawar, Peshawar to New Zealand and eventually to Australia.

Quoting the young woman herself, Wida’s main goals in life are to ‘bring light in my people’s heart and keeping our Afghan culture alive’ by writing and becoming an official representative of her beautiful country. Wida is one of the many young and upcoming talented Afghans who are not only in touch with their roots but also on a quest to encourage others, despite living far away from her beloved country. Wida does this through her beautifully deep crafted poetry. Other communities outside of our Afghan community are captivated by her poetry.

Bernadette Hall, a well known NZ poet, said of Wida’s poem “my Sweet Afghanistan” ‘…reminds me of some of the work of South American liberationists poets, like Neruda and Vallejo’.  Wida should definitely pursue her writing. This same poem was nominated in Canterbury during National Poetry Day (competition) 2010.

The vibrant and passionate young woman that Wilda is, is reflected in her writing, with much to offer readers who would like an insight into the beauty and heartbreak that is Afghanistan.

Wida’s talent and quest to bring honor to her treasured country Afghanistan is very admirable.

My Sweet Afghanistan

As I walk in the streets of this foreign city
I remember my sweet Kabul,
The beautiful gardens
And the fountains.
Oh my sweet Afghans,
I’m the Afghan who has awoken,
my nation’s anger has empowered me,
my ruined and burnt villages have filled me,
with hatred against the enemy,

I’ve found my path and will never return,
I’ve opened and closed doors of ignorance,
I’ve said farewell to my beautiful country,
I’ve seen barefoot and homeless children,
I’ve seen those children trying to find freedom in the last breaths,
In the waves of blood and in victory.

If only there was peace,
you would have heard,
the joy of children laughing around you.

Oh my sweet Afghans,
With all my strength I’m with you,
Walking towards emancipation,
I’ve stepped up to the path of my nation,

To break all these sufferings,
All these chains of slavery,
I hope one day I could transform my country from oppression,
Injustice
To freedom and justice,
That’s my only dream…

By Wida Tausif (C)