This Incident Broke the Back of our People

Narrator: Khairun-Nesa (mother)

Victim: Mohammad Joma Abdullahi (Wafa)

Date of the incident: 23 July 2016

Location of the incident: Dehmazang, Kabul City

We are from the village of Sayed Ahmad in Ghazni Province, (Jaghori District). For a while, my son attended the Kharbid School in our district. He graduated from Soltani High School in Sangmash. Then he came to Kabul, took the university entrance exam, and started studying at Gawharshad University. For almost five months, he went to Iran and worked and lived with his brother there. He then came back to Afghanistan. My son was highly active. He was a front-row activist of the "Tabassom Movement," and entered the Arg [the presidential palace in Kabul], staying with the people there until late into the night. When the Shah Shahid incident took place [7 August 2015], he had helped a lot of people. He would always read books and treated everyone well. He had friends from the Tajik, Pashtun, Uzbek, and Hazara communities.

The night before the demonstration, he gathered his friends at his brother's house and encouraged them to take part in the next day’s march. His brother's wife and I were in Jaghori. He had called his sister to go to his brother's house and prepare food for him and his friends. Given the hot weather, he had put water bottles in the refrigerator in preparation for the demonstration the next day.

On the day of the demonstration, he and his brother had left the house, putting the water in a bag. His brother recalled that the weather was hot and the Martyred/my son joked with his brother, saying that he would not give him any water from his pack; he should drink water from the well. When his friends told him they were not thirsty but hungry, he gave them money to buy food. His friends then told Muhammad Juma they were being sarcastic and did not need his money. While talking with his friends, he received a call. He stood up and walked a few steps away from them, and that is when the explosion happened. When I heard about the explosion, I immediately called him. He had three phones. I called all three of his numbers, but he didn't answer, and his phones were switched off. We immediately left for Kabul and arrived at 8 o’clock that night. I went through difficult moments. I can never erase his memory from my mind.

My son worked hard, but all his efforts produced no result, and God took him from me. He was 26 years old, very young. Around Eid days, he would go to Jaghori. He would then visit Malistan [in Ghazni Province] with his friends. From there, he would go to Alawdal and take pictures in different places to keep as a memory of the past. Then he came to Kabul and told me: “My dear mother, now it's your turn to go to Jaghori, to rest and have some fun.” I travelled to Jaghori with his brother, but it was not long before we heard of his martyrdom. He had a factory, he paid for food for his workers, except during the month of Ramadan, when they did not get food. His workers and friends loved him very much. He left me alone with my grief. Every moment I remember him, my heart breaks. I cry and wait patiently, wishing I was gone with him, so I did not have to bear this pain alone.

The life story of Khairun-Nesa, mother of martyr Juma

I suffered so much in my life. I tried hard to ensure my child could study. I worked on people's land and endured people's taunts for the betterment of my child's future, but, in the end, the government killed our youth and ruined our lives by not protecting people’s security. There have been ups and downs in my life, but this incident broke the back of our people. In our hometown, I used to go to the plains to collect grass for animals to enable my children to study. I sent my two sons to Iran but chose to send Mohammad Juma to school. For a while, I sent him off to Kharbed. He knew that all of us had the dream that he would build his future. That was why he worked so hard and always achieved success.

I sent him to Sangamasheh in Jaghori district for a while to get an education. For university, I sent him to Kabul. He studied at a government institute and, at the same time, completed his studies at Gawharshad University. On the day of the incident, I was in Jaghori. They informed me that my son was wounded in Dehmazang. By the time I arrived, he had met his death/martyrdom. I don't expect anything from the government because the government itself is the cause of ruining our families.