Noor, 18, refugee from Afghanistan, apprentice and cricketer

At 13, Noor had to leave his family in Afghanistan, alone, for a 9000 kilometer journey into the unknown. He is now an apprentice near Rouen, the commune of Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville has become a second family.

For several days, Noor R. has been tormented by worry. He would like to be able to reach his mother who lives in the Kabul region. He has not seen her since her departure in 2016.

It is for her that he overcomes all the trials of exile. « I am the eldest of my family, my father died, my mother is like God for me”.

Noor’s father was an English teacher. He had transmitted to her the love of this language. « In front of the Taliban, I believe that English is forbidden ». One evening, men knocked on the door, they were looking for the 13-year-old child.

His family made the tough decision to get him out of Afghanistan.

The life force of a teenager

The young Afghan miraculously survived on the migrant route. Pakistan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Italy. He ended up arriving in Nice and then shared the misery of the Porte de la Chapelle camp in Paris.

Noor does not have enough words to thank the volunteers and doctors of the Red Cross.

On the decision of a judge, he arrived in Rouen, with the status of protected minor. Noor went to high school in Barentin, then he was offered to become an apprentice. He chose to prepare a cook’s CAP. Her ability to learn languages ​​is her other asset.

The city of Our Lady of Bondeville welcomed him in connection with the prefecture and theCoallia Associationfounded by Stéphane Hessel.

« It’s a hard past. He needs to be surrounded, he adapts, he wants to be a volunteer, he wants to help. When we hear about his life, when he says what he has been through, his colleagues say to themselves: it’s perfect here, we can’t complain, in front of him we have no right. »

Noor builds his new life. He marvels again:There is no war, France is a country of peace ».

With friends, he created the first cricket team, at the Saint-Exupéry stadium, under the leadership of the club Huskies baseball.

This sport is widely practiced in Aghanistan and in Pakistan.

The weight of responsibility is heavy for this teenager. No respite. The shift in Afghanistan is violent.

Now, Noor is focused on one goal, protecting his mother despite the distance and leading the steps so that she can join him in Normandy.