Meet a self-taught Farsi speaker whose talent helped him talk Afghan refugees through their escape to safety

In 2009, Marcin Maryszczak, an employee in the IRCC Section of the Canadian Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, took it upon himself to learn Farsi. At the time, his work included processing applications from Iran under a work sharing agreement between our offices in Ankara and Warsaw.

He had no idea that more than a decade later, he’d be using this talent to advise Afghan nationals desperately trying to flee the country as the Taliban took control.

Answering the call

He watched the mounting crisis in Afghanistan as it unfolded on the news and slept with his phone by his bedside. He’d previously told his manager that he would be willing to help however he could, so when the call came he wasn’t entirely surprised.

Coordinating with a colleague in Abu Dhabi, Marcin began calling Afghan clients to conduct interviews to assess if they were eligible to enter Canada under one of the special measures.

“I remember talking to people who said their home had been visited by Taliban fighters before. They knew better than to return home and were hiding in another location. These were people who previously stepped on somebody’s toe, or were involved in something the Taliban hadn’t favored when they were not in power,” says Marcin.

In one case, the person on the other end was afraid an explosive device had been planted in front of their house, concealed in an unfamiliar parked motorcycle.

There were also many cases of people trying to get to the airport in Kabul to catch a flight, but not being able to travel those last few kilometers because of the danger.

“I couldn’t tell them anything other than to try to be safe and wait for instructions. These were very tough conversations.”

An unexpected connection

Marcin remembers many individuals, but one instance that sticks out in his mind was an encounter with a young man who worked in a laundromat washing NATO soldiers’ uniforms, who had taught himself English for no other reason but to give himself a challenge – not unlike Marcin.

“He was a person who invested in himself without any prospect at the time of actually going abroad, but who has that kind of spirit where he’s ready for another challenge. It was so impressive. You could almost picture running into him on the street in Toronto and not even realizing he had just arrived from Afghanistan.”

The work must continue

Despite these many conversations, each with a different story, at the end of the day he knew he had a job to do – and he wouldn’t be able to do it if he dwelled too long on any single case.

“I don’t want to say that your skin gets harder with stories that are tough, but in a way it does. I feel for each and every one of the people I’ve spoken with, and I remember many of them, even from years ago. But when it comes down to it you have to do your job – this case will pass, and there will be new cases that will need attention from somebody with the heart, soul, and brain to work on them.”