Ali, Zekerullah, Khamad and I miss Ghulam and his family. We feel sad that life in Afghanistan had finally become too burdensome for them. They are now Afghan refugees in Iran.<\/p>\n We have known Ghulam for many years, Ali and Ghulam being distant relatives and the best of childhood friends. Ghulam lived in community with us for about five years. We were his second family, supporting one another through thick and thin.<\/p>\n Ghulam\u2019s focus<\/b><\/p>\n Ghulam worked very hard to be a good student. When he transferred to a private school, he topped his class in the exams and thus had his school fees waived.<\/p>\n He felt that doing well in school was the only route to a better life for a poor student.<\/p>\n Besides schooling, Ghulam would spare time once a week to help organize the first Food Bank in Afghanistan, run by the Afghan Peace Volunteers ( APVs ). Volunteering isn\u2019t a prevalent practice, and it isn\u2019t easy trying to get well-to-do business persons to trust the APVs against the background of a \u2018corruption tsunami\u2019 in Afghanistan. So, Ghulam\u2019s work with the nascent Food Bank called for his courage, persistence and kindness.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/unnamed-1-e1503506038431.jpg\")
<\/a>Ghulam (second from left) working on our community\u2019s greenhouse, together with Zek, Khamad and Ali<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/unnamed-2-e1503506301471.jpg\")
<\/a>Ghulam (extreme right) with Hussein and Sarwar going house to house to collect food donations for the Food Bank<\/i><\/p>\n