Name: Abdul Khaliq Rezai

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, excellent English and Bahasa skills, volunteer translator, barber and English teacher, Community Representative, artist, completed lighting electrical installation and peer counselor training, YouTube Art Instructor

Risk: At risk of being tortured and killed by the Taliban if returned home due to serving the US and other countries’ armies through No-Lemon/ AMS Global.

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Abdul Khaliq worked as an administrative assistant and police liaison at an army base for the multinational military mission in Afghanistan (ISAF). As a Hazara, he was already a target by the Taliban. Once they discovered he was working with the ISAF, his life was in danger. Due to multiple death threats, he made the difficult decision to flee to Indonesia by boat in 2014 to save his life.

Life in Indonesia has been difficult for all refugees. Khaliq has made the best of a terrible situation - while living in the detention centre, Khaliq volunteered as an English teacher, barber and translator for his fellow refugees. He has pursued a passion for art . He was selected to be the community representative because of his helping nature. But now he needs help from a group of Canadian friends who can bring him to Canada where he can start his life again.

Helping Afghanistan

Khaliq was born in 1991 in a village in the Ghazni province in Afghanistan. After finishing his high school at Shinideh High School that was located in Malistan, Khaliq was employed by ATEMP (Afghanistan Technical Equipment Maintenance Program) which was part of AMS (Automotive Management Services). He was an administrative assistant and police liaison by No-Lemon AMS Global in Tarinkot Airport, Uruzgan. The airport was the army base for ISAF on behalf of the US government. In the base, there were army forces of many countries including Afghanistan, Australia, Singapore, Slovakia and the United States of America. From December 2010 until December 2017, ATEMP was engaged and in direct support of the US Government.

“I was very happy to have a job and support my family, but everything changed.”

Threatened with Death

In June 2011, Khaliq took leave and visited his family. While returning, he received several threatening phone calls from the Taliban. The Taliban threatened Khaliq to quit his job and stop supporting the government and foreigners.

“I was very scared and did not know what to do.”

Khaliq contacted his manager and told him that he had been threatened by the Taliban. He needed to take a leave from his job for some time until he felt safe to return. Without stopping, he could have been killed by the Taliban. Then Khaliq went to Kabul and started looking for more job opportunities.

It was difficult to find a job in Kabul. In November 2011, AMS requested that he return to work. Khaliq went back to his work with the hope that everything had changed to normal with the passage of time.

Forced to Flee

Khaliq worked there until April 2013. He was threatened again by the Taliban and he knew that this time he would be killed, so he quit his job and went to Kabul. He did not go to his home because he did not want to put his family in danger. In Kabul, he arranged for a human smuggler and fled to Indonesia by boat in December 2014.

Life in Limbo

After arriving in Jakarta, he registered himself at the UNHCR office on January 06, 2015. With no right to work or way to support himself in the new country, he went to Tanjung Pinang Immigration Centre to ask for assistance where he was kept for about 20 months.

“I slept at the sideroad of immigration centre under the sun and rain for 8 months. Then I was isolated in a room at the immigration centre for a year.”

On July 18, 2016, he was transferred to a detention centre in Tanjung Pinang.

“Although we had not committed any crime, we were treated like criminals, and the conditions were dire there.”

While living in the detention centre, Khaliq helped his refugee fellows as a volunteer English teacher, barber and translator. Also, he was learning the art of drawing. He was selected by his peers to be one of the refugee representatives there. It was his honour to became their spokesperson.

His Amazing Activities

Finally, on January 29, 2018, Khaliq received his freedom from the detention center and was transferred to a community house in Bhadra Resort, Bintan Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia. There, he started learning and teaching portrait drawing and realistic painting to his refugee fellows with the small support of IOM. Sadly, after one and a half years, IOM stopped supporting him and his classes got dismissed. He still paints and draws. He records his lessons to his YouTube channel. Please subscribe.

Khaliq was selected as a representative by the refugee community, and he has been the general representative of refugees in the community house since 2019. He has also completed UNHCR community interpreter training and training of lighting electrical installation (simple house building) by IOM.

Help Bring his Gifts to Canada

As a UNHCR refugee, Khaliq is eligible for Canada’s private sponsorship program. He needs a group of five Canadian friends to support him.

“I hope to live a better life in the future with freedom, and I need a group of friends who can help me start a new life.”

To help support Khaliq as a sponsor, please contact Stephen Watt on Facebook.

You can also reach out to Khaliq directly on Facebook – or by email: ab.juya794@gmail.com - or Whatsapp: +6283186177331

Reach out and discover how wonderful it is to privately sponsor a good person to start a new life – with your help – in Canada!

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