"I can breathe again," Maral's new life in Germany.

 

It is the passion of my life to be a voice and write the stories of my Iranian friends. Maral Rostami is one of those dear friends. I met her online in Shiraz, Iran in 2013 and offered to help her learn English. We became very close friends and she appreciated my support of Iranian women's struggle of living under a dictatorship government. I distinctly remember a very emotional video call on Skype in July 2015. Maral was extremely desperate to flee Iran with her ten-year-old child. Her ex-husband was stalking her and her father-in-law was threatening to take custody of her son because she refused to teach him the Quran. It was would be the last time that i saw Maral for several months. 

The following short story of Maral's daring escape from Iran is told in more detail in my book, "Finding Hope and a Future: Maral's Journey to Freedom," on Amazon.com

 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Then you will call upon me and and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

                                                       (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

 I was sitting in the parking lot of Walmart on October 6, 2015, when I received a text message from Maral's sister, Farzane on What's App. I hadn't heard from Maral since our Skype call in July and was very concerned about her. I thought it was quite odd that her sister was messaging me. I quickly opened up the message and was shocked! Farzane explained in her message that Maral and her son Parham had to immediately leave Iran because the Police had arrived at her home while she was at university. Maral had noticed them parked at her home and she panicked, calling her brother. Within a few hours, her brother Mohammed had found a buyer for her car and used the money to smuggle Maral and Parham out of Iran to the border of Turkey.

 Upon hearing the news, I laid my cell phone down beside me in the car and quietly prayed for Maral, that God would protect her and lead her safely into another country. I knew the cyber police monitored Maral's Facebook page and was worried that they had discovered our friendship and found out that I was a human rights activist for Iranians. Then I remembered that Maral had shared with me that she belonged to an anti-government group that met together after classes at the university. Had the group recently been infiltrated and that's why the police were at her home? Farzane had mentioned that the police had confiscated her laptop and were patiently waiting for her to return home from university.

 For the next three months, Maral and Parham traveled with a refugee group on a grueling three-thousand mile journey to Germany, where they would become asylum seekers. The journey began on foot, crossing over the treacherous Zagros Mountains on foot. Once they reached the bottom, they were met by two pickup trucks that would transport them to the next location. One of the most challenging episodes on the journey for Maral and Parham was crossing the Aegean Sea on a leaking rubber raft, and arriving at a refugee camp on Samos Island in Greece. Struggling to adapt to the changing weather conditions, Maral was now suffering from a bad case of bronchitis. However, she didn't have time to rest and relax. She had to keep moving swiftly with the refugee group and avoid being seen by the police. If caught, they would all be deported back to Iran as illegal refugees.

 Suffering from lack of sleep, Maral and Parham finally arrived at their destination in Bad lburg, Germany on December 27, 2015. The long and difficult journey was now over and freedom never tasted so good! Iran was now far behind them and Maral and Parham were ready to begin a new life. I will never forget the day at work when I received a call from Maral on What's App. I was thrilled to hear her voice once again and even more thrilled when she told me that she had become a Christian. During our last Skype call in July, I shared with her a verse from the Bible that had made a powerful impact on her journey. The verse was from the book of Jeremiah, where God promised "hope and a future" for those who would seek his face and place their trust in Him. Maral also reminded me of another verse that I had shared with her from Matthew's gospel teaching on prayer where Jesus said, "Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened." 

  "Those Bible verses gave me hope," Maral explained. "It made the difficult journey much easier and I remembered them from our Skype call."

  Maral told me several times that she hated religion, but just believed in God. I responded that Christianity was not a religion but a love relationship with God through Christ. The seeds of God's Word had taken root in her heart and God had caused the seeds to grow through many trials and tribulations. Shortly after her arrival, Maral joined a nearby Lutheran Church, where she confessed Jesus as her Lord and Savior and was baptized.

 In January 2017, I met with Maral on Skype from her new home in Germany, and for the next three months, she explained in detail her incredible escape from Iran and the difficult journey with the group of refugees. One of the most exciting events of her new life in Germany, besides becoming a Christian, was when the elder at the church gave her a very special birthday present, a brand-new bicycle! Maral was thrilled and immediately took her new bike for a ride around the refugee camp. The exhilarating feeling of not having to wear a hijab and riding a bicycle was the thrill of her life. Women riding bicycles publicly in Iran is forbidden, but right now Maral could fearlessly pedal her bike around the camp without fear of being arrested by the Morality Police.

  "I can breathe again," Maral rejoiced with a huge smile on her face as she concluded her story with me on Skype.

  Next year, I will publish a sequel to our first book, detailing the struggles and triumphs of being an Iranian refugee in Germany. Since her new life, Maral has successfully graduated from university and is working as a dental assistant in her new apartment in Bad lburg. God has answered my prayers and kept His promise to Maral. She has been blessed with a brand new life and a new beginning. Maral and Parham both found hope and a future just as God had promised them!