Name: Elzobier Ahmed Akber Adam

Profile: Refugee from Sudan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, volunteer English teacher and interpreter, an electrician.

Risk: At risk of being tortured and killed by the Janjaweed and government military if returned home.

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Needed: A group of five Canadian citizens who can sponsor him.

When the military force attacked Elzobier’s village, they killed many people including his brother and sister. He escaped to another village to save his life, but he was then captured and beaten by the forces. Luckily, he escaped from there and made it to Indonesia in late 2015.

While living in a state of limbo in Indonesia, he learned English and completed Electricity Installation Training, and now, he has been working as an intern. His dream is to resettle in a country where he can work, support his family and live with freedom. He needs a group of five Canadian friends who can help him start his life again in Canada.

His Story

Elzobier was born in January 1993, in Darfur, Sudan. He belongs to the Fur ethnic group.

In March 2012, the Janjaweed and government military force attacked Elzobier’s village.

“They came with cars, horses and camels, burned my village and killed many people including my brother and sister.”

Elzobier and his family fled to another village named Masantri. At his father’s request, he returned to school, but he was then taken to the office and beaten by the government military. They kept asking him about Tormora (the Sudanese Liberation Army Movement who are fighting against Janjaweed and the government). Elzobier kept saying that he did not know anything, but the military personnel did not believe him. They threatened him to give the information until the next day, or else they would kill him.

                “I was released, but I never returned to school.”

In May 2015, the Janjaweed and government military force attacked the village Elzobeir was living in. This time, the sudden attack separated Elzobier from his family. Thinking that they had been killed, he escaped from there to save his life. There was no safe place for Elzobier since he belonged to an ethnic group that had been massacred and persecuted by the government.

Injured

While trying to escape, Elzobier met five young men and they decided to run away together. After a few hours, they were ambushed by the government military force who opened fire at them and killed two men. Elzobier and the rest escaped from there but with many injuries. On the way, Elzobier was helped by an old man who hid him inside his lorry and took him to another city. There, Elzobier found his brother in a refugee camp. Since he was covered with blood, his brother took him to the doctor where he spent 2 days. Unfortunately, the government was informed by spies that there was a newcomer in the camp, and some military personnel came to his brother’s place searching for him. While they were arguing at the front door with his brother, Elzobier escaped through the back door and returned in the middle of the night.

“My brother had been threatened by them that if they found me at his place, they would kill us both.”

Leaving his Country

His brother paid a man to help Elzobier leave the city. In the early morning, he left for Khartoum where his uncle was living. After the government came to know that his brother helped him escape from the city, they imprisoned and beat him for more than 40 days. It was not so long before the government authorities learned about his travel to his uncle’s home. Luckily, before their arrival, his uncle told Elzobier to leave the house. The military force searched his uncle’s home and then asked neighbors to report them if they saw Elzobier.  

Knowing that his life was in grave danger, his relatives arranged for a people smuggler to send Elzobier to a safe country. On December 03, 2015, he flew to Saudi Arabia with fake documents arranged by the people smuggler. From there, he went to Jakarta, Indonesia by plane on December 04, 2015.

Detention Centre

In December 2015, he registered himself with the UNHCR. With no right to work or way to support himself in Indonesia, he went to Batam Immigration Centre to ask for assistance. On February 01, 2016, he was transferred to a hotel in Batam where he stayed for about 10 months. On September 11, 2016, he was transferred to a detention centre in Tanjung Pinang.

“For almost 2 years, I did not hear anything about my family. I did not know whether they were alive or not because I was not allowed to call friends in Sudan and ask about my family.”

Despite facing many restrictions, Elzobier started building up his skills. He joined English and computer classes provided by the IOM. Eventually, he became a good English speaker as well as he became familiar with Microsoft Office and Excel.

“These achievements made me work harder. Regular exercises helped me to handle stress and pain.”

Being detained for an uncertain time and without committing any crime was very tough. Elzobier along with other refugees started demonstrating for their freedom, and after three months, the IOM and immigration authorities promised to release them from the detention centre. On November 01, 2017, he was officially recognized refugee by the UNHCR.

His Achievements

In January 2018, he was freed and transferred to a community house on Bintan Island in Tanjung Pinang.

Elzobier still faces many challenges. The community house is far from the city with no transportation or stores nearby for buying daily needs. He is a great help to his refugee fellows. In December 2018, he was chosen by Sudanese refugees there to become a community interpreter and leader. 

Since he speaks Bahasa Indonesia, he has made many local friends and has been teaching English to local students voluntarily.

On April 05, 2019, he joined an Electricity Installation Training conducted by the IOM and received a certificate. Since then, the electrician has become his profession. After practicing online and practically, he started an internship as an electrician on January 01, 2021.

News from his Family

Elzobier was not happy due to his family whom he did not know about. He had several meetings with the UNHCR officers asking them to find some information about his family. One day, he received a phone call from an old friend in his country. He had news of Elzobier’s family.

“I felt very happy hearing of my family, but the worst part was that my family was still homeless. They have been living in the mountains without clean water, sufficient food, and nothing to keep them warm. Hearing this broke my heart.”

The Only Way!

Despite all his activities, he cannot live a normal life. He has been very worried for his family. As a refugee in Indonesia, he cannot support them, nor he can return to his country since his name is blacklisted there.

There is a way for him to resettle in a safe country where he can work, improve his skills, support his family and reunite with them one day.

Since Elzobier 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.

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 reach out to Elzobier directly on Facebook – or by email: alzobierbasha@gmail.com – or through WhatsApp: +62 831-6105-7769.

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

Thank you for your support. And help spread the word by sharing this post!