Name: Ali Shah Nazari

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, experienced construction engineer, FULLY FUNDED.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Ali Shah was at the risk of being captured and killed by the Taliban, so he fled to Indonesia in 2014 to save his life.

He is an experienced construction engineer, but as a refugee, he is not allowed to work and improve his skills. He hopes to reunite with his family who is left in Afghanistan and he needs a group of five Canadian friends who can help him start his life again in Canada.

Early Life

Ali Shah Nazari was born on January 1, 1985 in Malistan district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan. His life was going well and he used to help his father with farming to support their family. Since the situation in Afghanistan was getting tough due to war, Ali Shah’s father was struggling desperately from dawn to late at night to seek food for the family. Ali Shah decided to migrate to Iran where he could work and ease his father’s burden. In 2005, he went to Iran illegally and learned to tile while working there for 2 years. He got so professional that he started making contracts and managing projects independently.

Due to not having legal documents to stay in Iran, he was captured by the Iranian police and was deported to Afghanistan in 2007.

“I got married in 2008 and started a family. The sad memories of insults, humiliation and being far away from my family brought a strong conviction not to emigrate anymore and just to find a job in Afghanistan.”

Attack on his Home

After a while, Ali Shah succeeded in finding private construction work. He started working on a construction project for Qarabagh district’s central police station. Later on, he received threatening letters from the Taliban to stop working on the government project, but he did not take it seriously and continued his work. One night on January 30, 2014, Ali Shah was at his in-law’s house when the Taliban attacked his home. The members of the Taliban did not find him there but they asked his father to disclose his location.

“Since my father persisted and did not reveal my location, he was tortured up to death that night.”

After his father lost his life, the Taliban told his mother that they would find Ali Shah from any corner of Afghanistan and kill him. Ali Shah was then informed by his mother that the Taliban had killed his father and they had been looking for him as well.

“Hearing that my father had been killed was the darkest and saddest moment of my life ever, which truly paralyzed me mentally and physically.”

The Journey

Ali Shah was in real danger in Afghanistan. He was told by his mother to find a way out of the country and save his life. After he arrived in Kabul secretly, he contacted his friend who then helped him arrange for a people smuggler. The people smuggler made Ali Shah’s travel documents ready and on February 11, 2014, he flew to New Delhi, India where he stayed for 10 days. On February 21, he went to Malaysia by plane and then on to Medan Indonesia by boat on February 24, 2014.

“The journey on the boat was very dangerous. All the way, I was only remembering and rehearsing my mom’s prayers and that was my only heartwarming hope to survive.”

Detention Centre

After arriving in Jakarta, he registered himself with the UNHCR on February 26, 2014. Due to not having the right to work or way to support himself in Indonesia, Ali Shah went to Tanjung Pinang Immigration Centre to ask for assistance. He and other refugees waited for weeks and slept on the side road under the rain and sun in front of the Immigration Centre. Finally, on March 20, 2014, they were informed that they would be moved inside the detention centre. Ali Shah and other refugees were so happy that they would have their place to sleep. While entering the detention centre, their money and electronic devices including mobile phones were taken from them. Refugees were locked up inside the cells and there was not any bed or pillow to sleep on.

“The way we were being called and treated made us think that we were absolute criminals who had committed serious crimes.”

The detention centre was overcrowded and badly ventilated, and refugees faced many challenges, like lack of food, water, and proper medical care, but Ali Shah was grateful that he was safe from persecution. Despite all those difficulties, he was using his time wisely by keeping himself busy learning the English language.

Freedom

On March 30, 2018, Ali Shah received his freedom from the detention centre and was transferred to a community house in Tanjung Pinang.

Being released from the walls with barbed wires was another opportunity for him to be more active. He has been carrying on learning English and additionally started participating in more vocational and educational programs that are held by the IOM.

Far from Family

Since 2014, Ali Shah has been waiting to visit his family again. He was not a lucky father to embrace the birth of his lovely son who was born just two months after he left Afghanistan.

“Today, he is a beautiful child and I rarely see him through video call. I have always shed tears due to being far from him and it hurts.”

Since the Taliban have taken over Afghanistan, Ali Shah has been more worried for his family who is left there. There is no one to look after his old mother, two sons and his wife. As a refugee, he cannot work, get proper education, drive and even open a bank account. Still, he hopes to resettle in a safe country like Canada where he can work, support his family and reunite with his family one day. As he says:

“I am looking forward to the kind-hearted and beautiful people of Canada to give me a hand of hope and help me to form a group of five kind Canadians who can bring me to Canada.”

It is Possible!

It is possible! Since Ali Shah 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 Shah 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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