DENVER — For Sayed Jawad Padshah, when the Taliban took Afghanistan in 2021, it was a gut punch. His dream of being a pilot came crashing down.
“It was really mixed-up feelings, the feelings that gives you, you are nothing,” Padshah said.
His country was suffering, and he and his family got out. A backpack, some clothes, memories and years of knowledge as a pilot was all he could take with him.
“It’s a story that can be made as a movie,” Padshah said.
He had dreams since childhood of becoming a pilot. He served in the Afghanistan Air Force Academy. He received a scholarship to get his license in the Czech Republic, joined the military back in Afghanistan, became a flight instructor and flew countless missions as a Medivac. All of it ended with the Taliban takeover. He spent a year at a refugee camp in the United Arab Emirates.
“Flying is not for me, I don’t see that as a job," Padshah said. "It’s part of my life. It’s part of my daily life I would say.”
He always knew his skill set would be used somewhere.
“We serve whoever walks in our door as a refugee, and they have a career filled from before, we are helping them get back into those career fields,” Tiffany Jaramillo said.
Jaramillo is with Emily Griffith Technical College and provides support for refugees from Afghanistan in a program called the CAREERS. This particular program is supported by the Colorado Refugee Service Program and the funding comes from the Office of Refugee Settlement. Padshah and a few others walked through that door to meet Jaramillo.
“I’m really blessed that I was able to find EGTC and the career pathway program that they have helped me to get my license back,” Padshah said.
Padshah is looking to find a job flying commercially and is so thankful for the chance.
“I am really blessed that now I have the chance that I am able to say that I have done it," Padshah said.