A 19 year old American lady has narrated her ordeal fleeing Iraq at 18 after her parents forced her to stay, OYOGist.com reports.
Twitter user @papishawi, Amna, confesses that she disliked wearing the hijabs as a child because she was bullied for it and didn’t know why she was wearing it but she did because her parents forced her to and she was scared of what they might do to her.
Once she turned 18, she moved out of the house but her parents soon came begging to come back home, she did and this time was allowed to do as she pleased.
Months later, her parents announced a family vacation that will start in Iraq (as the parents are Iraqis) and end in Dubai before they come back to America.
Two weeks later in Iraq, her mother confessed that they will be living in Iraq forever because Amna is becoming “westernized” and they do not want the family’s reputation ruined through her.
Her friends advised that she contacts the American Embassy which she did and luckily for her she had a scanned copy of her international passport because her parents had seized her passport on arrival, OYOGist.com reports.
Amna set up a GoFundMe account where she was able to get some cash. So, she tried leaving her house where her parents would catch her and physically abuse her.
The parents still did not know she was in contact with the U.S Embassy.
On a lucky day for Amna, the door was opened and she made a run for it.
She went to the U.S Embassy, got help and made it back to America.
She lives alone now and has a rocky relationship with her family but she is “happy” and “healthy”. Living free, no longer wearing hijabs as her experience with it were bad.
