Name: Ali Akbar Zahidi

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, experienced driver and mason, FULLY FUNDED.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Ali Akbar and his family’s life was in danger because his brother had been working with the NATO forces. They fled to Pakistan to save their life. While living there, Ali Akbar survived a huge bomb attack and then he decided to seek a safe place, so he came to Indonesia by boat in 2014.

His dream is to pursue his education and be a construction engineer or a mechanic in the future. He needs a group of five Canadian friends who can help him start his life again in Canada.

His Story

Ali Akbar was born in 1997 in a village in the Malistan district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan. As a child, he was busy with his study. His dream was to become an educated person in the future.

The Hazara people of the region have long been targets of persecution and massacres because of their culture, religion, and love for education. Ali’s brother, Zahir was working with NATO forces in the Uruzgan province. Working with the government or with foreign forces was prohibited by the Taliban and they would be killed by the Taliban if captured. Unfortunately, the Taliban noticed the activity of Ali’s brother and they attacked his home to arrest him on September 9, 2007. During that time, his brother was on his duty, so the Taliban arrested Ali’s elder brother whose name was Sakhidad. He was beaten and tortured badly by the Taliban, and luckily, he fled from there to Pakistan. Later on, Ali and his family also migrated to Quetta, Pakistan to be safe.

In Pakistan, they were living a happy life together, but things changed in 2011 when the Hazara people there were being killed by target killings and bomb blasts.

“The situation there was getting worse day by day. Every day, I was unsure of returning from school to home safely.”

Survived the Blast

On February 16, 2013, Ali Akbar was returning home from school when a huge blast took place in Hazara Town, Quetta. He was near the blast site and luckily survived but he got slightly injured.

After that blast, he was not feeling safe in Pakistan anymore, nor he could return to Afghanistan due to security issues, so he decided to migrate to a safe country.

The Way to Indonesia

On June 18, 2014, he went to Kabul, Afghanistan by land where his friend helped him arrange for a people smuggler. On June 25, 2014, he flew to New Delhi, India and stayed there for 10 days. Then on July 5, he went to Malaysia by plane where he stayed for 10 more days. On July 15, 2014, he arrived in Pekanbaru, Indonesia by boat.

Life in the Detention Centre

On July 16, he arrived in Jakarta, and he registered himself at the UNHCR office on July 20, 2014. 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. In October 2014, he was transferred to a detention centre that was overcrowded and badly ventilated, and refugees faced many challenges like, lack of food, water and proper medical care. While living there, Ali Akbar and some other refugees started learning the English language from other refugee volunteers.

Life Now

After remaining in the detention centre for 3 years, Ali Akbar got his freedom on January 1, 2018 and was transferred to a community house in the city of Tanjung Pinang. Since then, he has been doing his best to make himself busy learning the English language and other skills so that he can be helpful to society in the future.

His Passion

Ali Akbar would like to continue his education and pursue his passion which is to be a construction engineer or mechanic. As he says:

“I dream to live in a peaceful country where I can get proper education, work, support my family and contribute to the community.”

Since Ali Akbar 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, another good thing about him is that he is FULLY FUNDED.

If you would like to sponsor him – or if you’re just interested in helping to bring him here – please contact his friend Stephen Watt on Facebook.

You can also reach out to Ali Akbar directly on Facebook.

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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