In 2001, Mahdi Taheri was an 11-year-old Afghan refugee dwelling in Iran. If you happen to requested him then, he in all probability wouldn’t have predicted that he would find yourself proudly owning his personal enterprise in Fraser Lake, B.C.
However because of some small-town networking and assist from his household, that’s precisely what occurred.
Lower than 70 days after arriving in Canada on March 24, Taheri has gained everlasting residency and, in a Could 31 Fb publish, introduced the launch of Blackbeard’s Small Engine & Restore. Along with engaged on engines, he’s additionally skilled in auto detailing and mechanical work.
It’s a marked change from the life he was main previous to Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban in August.
Taheri, 34, found his ardour for engaged on engines when he was a preteen. Taheri’s father had a good friend who owned a motorbike restore store in Iran. After weeks of pleading, his dad lastly gave him permission to assist across the store.
Taheri’s enthusiasm for mechanics remained as soon as he arrived in Afghanistan at 14. Nonetheless, he was not capable of pursue his curiosity immediately due to his household’s tough monetary state of affairs. As an alternative of returning to high school, he started working in no matter jobs he might discover to be able to assist his household.
After spending about three years biking via odd jobs, Taheri and his brother determined to affix the Afghan Nationwide Army in 2005. Taheri lied about his age and joined the army on the age of 17.
“I wanted to turn out to be a person,” he stated. “I wanted to journey to find out about life.”
Taheri went on to get pleasure from a 15-year army profession. Throughout his tenure with the Afghan Nationwide Army, he frolicked as a commando, conducting raids alongside Canadian and American forces. He additionally labored carefully with the US Special Forces as a cultural advisor, providing perception to the international army on their interactions with civilians and the native political methods.
Due to his shut partnership with NATO forces, Taheri was evacuated out of Afghanistan in 2021 after the nation’s fast fall to the Taliban.
That evacuation was spearheaded by his American supervisors, and he in the end made it to Philadelphia. Upon his arrival in america, Taheri frolicked in a refugee camp in New Jersey which he described as “feeling like a jail.”
“The toughest half was having to take heed to the kids crying,” he stated.
Taheri was largely a solo traveller as a refugee and arrived in america with out his household.
After a month-long battle, Taheri finally made it to Colorado Springs, CO, the place he was capable of reconnect together with his now-wife, Jennel, a local of Fraser Lake.. Jennel and Taheri related on Fb in 2016 via a mutual good friend in america army and met for the primary time in India in 2018.
The couple had plans to see one another a number of extra occasions between 2018 and his eventual arrival in North America, however COVID-19 journey restrictions and additional political turmoil in Afghanistan prevented them from having the ability to take action.
They acquired married in america in Feb. 2022. One month later, Jennel was capable of convey her husband into Canada.
“It’s very completely different,” Taheri stated of his new dwelling. “I actually just like the quiet and the character.”
After arriving in B.C., Taheri was tasked with managing an previous airplane hangar owned by a good friend of Jennel’s. Taheri repurposed the area and started utilizing it to work on small engines.
After receiving his work approval from the federal authorities, Taheri lastly opened for enterprise. Blackbeard’s Small Engine & Repairs was among the many companies featured on the Fraser Lake Small Enterprise Expo which was held on the Fraser Lake Area on June third and 4th.
