'A leader for my people'
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Asadhullah “Asad” Sohail is a freshman at Green Mountain College in Poultney. Provided Photo |
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By Tom Haley
STAFF WRITER - Published: October 25, 2009
POULTNEY — Asadhullah "Asad" Sohail appreciates every class, every soccer practice and game, and every study session in the library. Actually, "appreciates" is not a strong enough word. He savors each and every moment of his Green Mountain College experience.
"I am one of the luckiest Afghans," Sohail said. "I am so lucky to have this opportunity. I am going to take every advantage of it."
Sohail knew nothing but war while growing up in Afghanistan. There had always been a civil war or some type of invasion. But it was when the Taliban came to purge his village that life changed dramatically. He and his family had to hide out in the mountains. It meant three years of not going to school. It meant running and hiding, carrying belongings on their backs and on donkeys.
"We had to go far away where there were no roads," he said.
The Taliban, a religious extremist group from Pakistan, was ruthless.
"They were getting everyone, one by one," Sohail said. "We had to go to places where the Taliban couldn't get to in cars."
One by one. And one of them was Sohail's uncle, who left behind a wife and 10 children.
"They were so brutal," he said. "They destroyed the houses and killed the people."
Before the Taliban entered Afghanistan, Sohail's father had a grocery store and his mother and older sister wove carpets and made handicrafts.
But there was no way they could continue that life while the Taliban was ravaging the villages. Sohail was a fourth-grader on the run with his family. This life of hiding in the northern mountain areas of the country would last three years.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Taliban was overthrown when the United States launched its attack on terrorism.
Sohail was able to return to school and, after finishing 10th grade, was one of 39 Afghan students selected to study in the United States in a one-year exchange program.
He wound up at Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, where he also played soccer. It was his first exposure to playing for a coach. He had been one of several children in his province who would play the game with a plastic Pepsi bottle as the ball and with no shoes.
"Soccer is very big in Afghanistan," he said.
He then won a scholarship for one more year to Lyndon Institute and graduated from high school with the Lyndon class of 2009.
He did not play soccer there, preferring to pour all of his energy and resources into finding a way to get to college in the United States.
Education had become extremely important to him as a ticket to a better life. He watched his own family in Afghanistan not be able to attain good jobs because they were an ethnic Hazara family. That also made them a particular target of the Taliban's threats.
"I was going to learn English and get an education," he said, not wanting to face those same restrictions.
His determination has been noticed. "This young man added so much to us in terms of cultural diversity and attitude," said Paul Wheeler, who is the athletic director and alumni liaison at Lyndon Institute.
"He was so appreciative of everything he received.
"His experience here allowed both him and the community to grow. I think his year here made a difference in him and I know it made a difference in us. He made a big difference in the students and the staff.
"After what he had been through, everything he got here was a bonus and he was mature enough to know that. I don't believe I ever saw him have a bad day."
Sohail went to teachers and guidance counselors at Lyndon Institute and told them his family was very poor and asked if there were scholarship opportunities that would enable him to go to college.
He was assured there were.
"I applied to 11 colleges and got accepted at eight," Sohail said. "Green Mountain offered me a full ride."
The scholarship was the Make A Difference Scholarship.
He wanted to major in political science, but the college does not offer that major. Instead, he is pursuing degrees in economics and business.
His postgraduate work is to be in political science.
It is all directed toward his goal of returning to Afghanistan and being a leader. He is passionate about making his country better and "becoming a leader for my people."
He is only a freshman and can't be certain of the state of his native land by the time he completes his years at Green Mountain and obtains his postgraduate degree. He is following the situation involving the upcoming runoff election closely.
He said his province, Bamiyan province, is the safest in the country, but even that is not that safe now. It became more vulnerable, he said, once the United States decided to concentrate on Iraq.
Now, the attention is turning back to Afghanistan and Sohail hopes the troops remain to be a deterrent to the Taliban.
He has had many special moments since coming to the United States to study, but one of the most cherished had to be his graduation day at Lyndon Institute. His older sister Aqillah had been brought to the Northeast Kingdom as a surprise.
Even now, when describing his first glimpse of her that day, he can't suppress a smile.
Now, his younger sister Adillah is at Lyndon Institute.
"She is having a hard time because of English, but she is adjusting well," Sohail said.
He would have had the opportunity to see her this weekend as Green Mountain played at Lyndon State in soccer on Saturday, but he had to attend a conference for school in Chicago. He will see his sister for Thanksgiving.
And Thanksgiving is a holiday that has plenty of meaning for him. There are few people anywhere more thankful that Sohail.
The years on the run and the uncertainty that still exists today in his country cause him to reflect every day on the opportunity in front of him.
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