For Shakila Zareen, it was a “dream” meeting at the end of an ordeal that began when she was 17 years old.
On Thursday, she met Justin Trudeau, prime minister of a country that gave the young woman from Afghanistan, her mother and sister a chance at a new life after her husband shot her in the face, leaving her with permanent scarring.
Zareen’s meeting with Trudeau came just over two months after she arrived in Vancouver. And he hugged her when they met.
Coverage of Justin Trudeau and refugees on Globalnews.ca:
Zareen, who is from Baghlan, Afghanistan, was married off to a cousin at 17, in a forced marriage that was arranged by her brother-in-law, The Guardian reported.
Her husband was 14 years older – and, according to her, connected to the Taliban.
To hear her tell her story is to learn of a string of abuse that began the night they were married.
Zareen was beaten and raped, she told the U.K. newspaper.
She went to the police. But no help was forthcoming.
Her husband learned that she had gone to the authorities. And in 2013, he shot her in the face, wounding her so badly it wasn’t certain that she would survive.
Zareen’s brother-in-law told the Guardian she shot herself. Her husband, who went to jail for a time, wouldn’t comment.
In 2014, she left Afghanistan for India and underwent major surgery.
Two years later, she was accepted by the U.S. But one year after that, the U.S. rescinded its acceptance for security reasons that haven’t been explained.
READ MORE: In their own words – refugees to Canada recount their journeys and experiences
But then Canada took her in as a refugee.
Zareen, her mother Sherman Jan, and her sister Semira Sediqi all received visas as part of a process that only took two weeks.
On Thursday, Trudeau was in Vancouver to take part in a roundtable at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel.
That’s where Zareen, her mother, sister and a translator met with the prime minister, in a gathering for which she couldn’t contain her excitement.
“It was my dream to meet him because I wanted to say thank you to him,” Zareen told Global News.
Through the translator, she said she wanted to thank Trudeau for his work on behalf of women.
When they met, she said he was “very kind,” that he held her in his arms.
“I knew that he was a good guy, but when I met him in person, I realized that he’s amazing,” Zareen said.
She thanked the prime minister for the help she received.
Now that she’s met Trudeau, Zareen hopes that she can sit down with him again and tell the full story of what happened to her.
“I fought for my rights, for my sister’s rights, for other women’s rights,” she said.
Here are some photos of Zareen, her family, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
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