In Herat, we found a playground and sat there to wait for the smuggler my dad had hired to come or call. We did not know if he would come or when. We were so tired.

After an hour, the smuggler called and said he would come in ten minutes. We waited thirty minutes until, finally, we saw a van stop. A man got out, looked around nervously and said: ‘Are you ready? Hurry up before someone sees us!’ We got in the van and drove for about two hours to the border.

There, the man again stopped the van and said, ‘I must wait till the checkpoint is cleared.’ Someone called him and he drove at such a high speed we begged him to please drive slowly. But he didn’t care! He continued speeding while my dad hugged little Setayesh and my mom hugged Zuhal. My eyes stayed fixed on the street until the van stopped. I was praying not to have an accident and to stay alive. By the time we arrived at the border of Iran, my hands were cold and I could not speak for fear.