As the intensifying crisis in the Middle East causes widespread disruption across the...
“Finally, after all these years, I can see my family and [we can] smile together without any fear. When someone knocks on our door, I no longer fear that it could be the police coming to deport us; I know that whoever it is can’t harm us anymore.”
Born in Afghanistan, Armita is a long-term viewer of SAT-7 PARS. The teenager and her family fled persecution in their homeland when she was just three years old, settling in Tajikistan.
It “felt like home,” she said, but the family’s security there became increasingly threatened as huge numbers of Afghans were forcibly returned to their homeland – an extremely dangerous prospect for believers in Christ. Armita’s uncle was killed in Afghanistan because of his faith.
Now, following years of uncertainty, she and her family are finally safe in a different country. In a message to SAT-7 PARS earlier this month, Armita wrote: “The wonderful news is that we are leaving Tajikistan for another country! I am so happy and grateful to the Lord. I am grateful for each and every one of you and for your prayers. And I am happy that the Lord has said, for now, that our time of serving in Tajikistan has come to an end and it is the beginning of a new chapter, a new life, and a new ministry in a different country.”
Armita grew up watching SAT-7 PARS children’s programs and developed a strong friendship with presenters and Viewer Support Team members. “I have known you for most of the 16 years that I have been in Tajikistan,” Armita wrote. “It is a real blessing that I started watching your channel when I was eight years old.”
Over the last year, Armita and her father Alborz had been in regular contact with SAT-7 PARS about the family’s increasingly precarious situation in Tajikistan. Police harassment, arrests, and waves of forced returns created constant anxiety for them and other Afghan believers living in Tajikistan.
“Deportations have started again, and 20 more families have been deported, and we are very scared,” Armita wrote in a prayer request. “I am really tired of this life we have here, always living in fear.”
At one point, officers came directly to their home.
“Today, the police came to our house and knocked violently on the door, and we were really scared,” Armita shared on another occasion. “I don’t want to go back to Afghanistan. I don’t want to be deported, and I don’t want to be killed.”
Life in Tajikistan, too, was unsafe. “Afghans are not liked by many people… and if they find out you are a Christian, some may even want to kill you,” Armita explained. “On some occasions, we had to leave our home to escape people who wanted to kill us.”
As she grew up, other pressures compounded the dangers of repatriation. “In Afghanistan, unmarried girls like me are being forced into marriage, which is very distressing. I don’t even know how to express the terror we are experiencing. The conditions here are really tough.”
The news of the family’s escape comes as the Taliban legalizes domestic violence in Afghanistan, allowing husbands to physically punish their wives and children, as long as the abuse does not result in “broken bones or open wounds.”1
“Afghans are not liked by many people… and if they find out you are a Christian some may even want to kill you.”
Despite her troubling circumstances, Armita’s messages were never only cries for help. Again and again, the teen supported other viewers, reflecting deeply on faith and forgiveness.
She sent short videos like the one below to SAT-7 PARS, full of hope and belief, and messages focused on encouraging others: “The world becomes a better place when people’s hearts are changed, and this can only happen through the love and grace of Jesus Christ,” she said.
During their years in Tajikistan, faith also shaped the family’s ministry. They traveled across the country to serve new believers who had no churches, Bibles, or means of traveling long distances for fellowship. Armita said that even people who had wanted to kill her father are now reading the Bible!
Looking back, Armita reflected that although the family longed to leave, “It always seemed as though the Lord stopped us leaving, like He was saying, ‘Now is not the time for you to leave this country.’”
Throughout these years, the SAT-7 PARS team walked alongside Armita and her family: praying with them, listening, and offering spiritual encouragement as uncertainty continued.
Although leaving Tajikistan – the country where she has lived most of her life – was emotionally difficult, Armita says the move to a new place has replaced anxiety with hope. “I am very happy that I can finally study and go to college,” she said.
After years of prayer requests sent in moments of danger, Armita’s latest message stands as an answer to prayer: a reminder of the lasting relationships formed through SAT-7’s ministry, and of God’s faithfulness to those who continue to trust Him, even in the darkest of times.
“I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4).
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