Sheide Gafarova was born in the village of Arpat (Zelenogorye), Sudak region. At the time of the deportation, she was only 4 years old. The exile deprived her of a carefree childhood, and left hard memories of life in a special settlement, hunger and death of loved ones forever. In the Urals, they had to survive by all means. Her family was saved by a horse saddle maker.