Name: Abdullah Yaqubi

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia, with family having recently fled to Pakistan

Location: "Bhadra Resort" in Bintan, Tanjung Pinang, Indonesia

Advantages: UN-certified, Advanced English, Volunteer English teacher, interpreter and community representative , FULLY FUNDED.

Risk: At risk of being caught and killed by the Taliban if returned home.

Needed: Five people to serve as private sponsors to Canada.

Abdullah was a taxi driver, and one day he was captured by the Taliban. He was tortured and nearly killed. Fortunately, he escaped from their hands and arrived in Pakistan, which is just as unsafe for Hazara people, and then to Indonesia where he remained in a detention centre for more than two years.

His wife and two daughters, Mina Yaqubi (8 years old) and Zahra Yaqubi (6 years old) were left behind. In August 2021, as the Taliban was overtaking Afghanistan, his wife sold all her jewellery and fled with her daughters to Iran and then to Quetta, Pakistan, where they are living as refugees.

Abdullah has never given up despite the difficulties he and his family have faced. He has learned a number of new skills and volunteered for his refugees. He hopes now to find five Canadian friends who can help him start his life again and reunite with his family in Canada one day.

His Story

Abdullah Yaqubi was born on March 16, 1989 in Shirdagh, a village of the Malistan district of Ghazni province in Afghanistan. He graduated in high school in 2009. In 2010, his father bought two cars so that he and Abdullah could work and support their family. One day in November 2010, Abdullah went to the market from where he picked up four Hazara passengers and drove them to Khas Uruzgan, a district in Uruzgan province.

When he was returning from there, the Taliban captured him, tied his hands and blindfolded him, and took him to an unknown place where two people were already imprisoned. The Taliban accused Abdullah of collaborating with Hakim Shojaee, a local commander in Afghanistan. They said that the passengers he took from the market to Uruzgan were Hakim Shojaee’s soldiers.

“I was very afraid, I kept saying that I didn’t know anything, but they continued torturing and interrogating me.”

After several hours, Abdullah and other prisoners realized they were soon to be killed. In a quiet moment, they untied each other's hands and escaped through a small hole in the ceiling.

“I kept wandering on the mountains the whole night, then reached my home the next morning.”

Some members of the Taliban came to his home at night to search for Abdullah. Fortunately, he and his father were hiding behind their house.

When the Taliban couldn’t find Abdullah, they warned his mother that if they didn’t find him by the next night, they would come again and not return with an empty hand. Abdullah and his family left their home at midnight and flee to Pakistan with the help of his mother’s uncle. They arrived in Quetta, Pakistan in October 2010, and stayed there for 9 years.

In 2012, Abdullah had the good fortune of meeting the love of his life, Hafizah. They welcomed their first daughter in August 2013.

In 2019, fearing her daughters would be prevented from going to school, Abdullah's wife paid a smuggler to take them back across the border to Afghanistan. They returned to their village in Herat, where they stayed until this past summer.

His Life in Pakistan

Life in Pakistan was not easy. The genocide against the Hazara people that has been taking place in Afghanistan since the 1890s has its own deadly equivalent in Pakistan, where Hazaras are again targeted by militants for their cultural differences. There have been countless examples of persecution, bombings, shootings and other massacres carried out against them, particularly in the Quetta area where their population is greatest.

Since jobs for refugees, especially Hazara refugees were few, Abdullah and his father took on construction work in Hazara Town, a ghetto of Quetta. The attacks on Hazaras during this time worsened. On January 10 2013, for example, several bombings took place on Alamdar Road in Quetta, killing a total of 130 people and injuring at least 270.

From Pakistan to Indonesia

With the violence continuing and worsening, Abdullah saw that he had to leave the country to save his life.

With the help of a friend, he arranged for a people smuggler who arranged for him to fly to Kabul on July 9, 2014. On July 10, he flew to New Delhi, India where he stayed for 17 days. Then, on July 27, he flew to Malaysia and stayed there for 6 days. Finally, he arrived in Indonesia by boat on August 3, 2014. He had arrived - at what would turn out to be another prison.

Life in Limbo

One week later, on August 11, 2014, he was registered at the UNHCR office in Jakarta. With no right to work or way to support himself in this new country, Abdullah surrendered himself to the Tanjung Pinang Immigration Detention Centre on August 27, and he entered the detention centre on December 29. The detention centre was in fact a jail, with no access allowed to the outside world.

Separated from his family and feeling cut off from the world, he tries to keep his spirits high by helping others. After improving his own language skills, he started to volunteer with teaching his fellow refugees. On August 30, 2016, he received his refugee status from the UNHCR, and he received his freedom from the detention centre on January 29, 2017.

Over his time in Indonesia, he has tried to help his fellow refugees and make a positive impact. Currently living in a community house in Bintan Island, he continues to teach English to his fellow refugees. Despite living a life of limbo, he has studied English, Bahasa Indonesia, math, computer, psychology graduate as a peer counsellor, drawing, hairdresser, craft, first AID treatment and carpentry.

High pressure troubles

Unfortunately the troubles have continued back home. In September 2019, the Taliban attacked Abdullah’s village (Kondlan and Shirdagh). In the attack, 24 Hazaras including three members of his family were killed and his father was badly wounded. Many others have been displaced.

“That incident shocked my life completely. After I heard that news, it became unbearable for me to wait and think about my family.”

Abdullah has been treated by a professional help for his high levels of stress. The pressure has not become easier, now that his wife and daughters are once again refugees themselves. In August 2021, as the Taliban was taking over the country, Hafiza sold her jewellery and fled with her daughters and Abdullah's mother. They went to Iran for nine days, then crossed into Pakistan.

They now live as refugees, surviving on the generosity of Abdullah's friend Vicky, who lives in Australia.

The opportunity

There is hope. Since Abdullah is officially certified as a refugee by the UNHCR – unlike the vast majority of the world’s refugees – he qualifies for Canada’s private sponsorship program, and he has some friends who have agreed to cover the costs of his first year in Canada. These funds will be placed in a trust account as part of the requirements for his application to come to Canada.

If you would like to sponsor Abdullah – or if you’re just interested in helping to bring him here – please contact his friend Stephen Watt or his friend in Australia, Vicky Flynn.

You can also reach out to Abdullah directly on Facebook or by email.

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