“My brother would buy books that were looted from Kabul University and bring them home,” he continues. “He one time told me that he is guilty of judging a lot of books by their covers! Some people were buying those books to make grocery bags out of them and sell them to shopkeepers. But Zalmai bought the books to read, sometimes reading as many as two to three a week. He found out that he could follow the story even though he did not know a lot of the words, looking up the words he did not know in a dictionary. That is how he taught himself English.”

Massoud eventually enrolled at Kabul University to study medicine. During the heavy fighting that took place in and around Kabul, the university was damaged and looted. “We had no textbooks, the quality of the lectures was poor, and there was a lack of qualified professors,” he says. “The only lab we had was a small pathology lab run by a retired American professor named G. Gordon Hadley. Like most other parts of Kabul, the university did not have power, so Professor Hadley used a small generator to provide electricity for the lab. He also put microscopes on the tables and slides for the students to view. This was the first time that many of us had gotten to see and use a microscope!” 

Feeling that his training in medicine was woefully inadequate, Massoud decided to work as a medical interpreter with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, with the result that Massoud was granted a special immigration visa that would allow him to come to the U.S. and become a citizen. Zalmai also found a job as a translator with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).

It was Massoud’s brother, the ever-resourceful Zalmai, who opened the door for him to study at IUSON BL. After 9/11 and the removal of the Taliban from power, Massoud says that hundreds of journalists flooded Afghanistan to report on the War on Terror. Zalmai was hired as an interpreter by the Philadelphia Inquirer, then by the New York Times and, finally, by NPR. Impressed with Zalmai, Jacki Lyden and Scott Simon from NPR helped him come to the U.S. and apply to college.

Zalmai enrolled at Amherst College to study geology. His college advisor then suggested that he pursue his master’s in geology at IU. “I was still working as an interpreter with the U.S. military in Afghanistan,” says Massoud. “I came to visit my brother a few times and went with him to the campus. The IU campus is beautiful!  In 2017, I decided to go back to school. Since my brother was already in Bloomington and working towards his PhD, I applied to IU.”

We’ll let Massoud tell you his story from here:

“The most challenging part of my application was certifying the documents and diplomas I’d earned while studying in Afghanistan. The process literally took one year. Once I was accepted at IU, the process was easy and straightforward. Indiana University is a great educational institution, and IUSON has one of the best nursing programs in the U.S.