Name: Esmatullah Hussaini

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, experienced and skillful constructor, hairdresser.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

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

Since 1998, Esmatullah has been a fugitive and searching for a safe home. In 2011, he came to Indonesia and has been living there without having access to his basic human rights. As a Hazara man, he is not safe in his country Afghanistan.

He is an experienced constructor and hairdresser. It is time for him to resettle in a safe country like Canada where he can live with freedom. His hope now is to find a group of Canadian friends who can help him start a new life in Canada.

Early Life

Esmatullah was born in 1974 in the Jaghori district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan. After completing his secondary school education, he left his studies due to the responsibility of supporting his family.

The Hazara people of the region have long been targets of persecution and massacres because of their culture, religion, and love for education. After the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 1998, he was not safe as a Hazara man, so he migrated to Tehran, Iran illegally in search of a safe place. He worked there as a construction worker for 3 years without having any legal documents.

Migrating to Europe

Since he did not have a future in Iran, he decided to look for a permanent safe home. In 2002, he arranged for a people smuggler and migrated to England illegally via Turkey, Greece, Italy and France. Unfortunately, he lived 8 years there as an asylum seeker and was not granted permanent residency.

“After applying for my permanent residency and being rejected, I hired a lawyer to get a second chance but things did not go as I wanted.”

After Afghan Former President Hamid Karzai announced that Afghanistan was safe and asked the European countries to deport refugees back to Afghanistan, Esmatullah was deported unwillingly in 2010.

Journey to Indonesia

As a Hazara, Esmatullah was not safe in Afghanistan. He then immediately left his country and moved to Pakistan, but the situation of Afghan refugees there was worse than he expected. So, he decided to seek another safe country. After arranging for a people smuggler who arranged a travel document for him, he flew to Malaysia and then to Indonesia in March 2011.   

Detained

On March 23, 2011, he registered himself with the UNHCR in Jakarta. Since he did not have access to his basic human rights in the country, he and some other refugees arranged a people smuggler who could get them to Australia by boat, but they were captured by Indonesian authorities on the sea and transferred to Medan Detention Centre.

Life in Indonesia

On January 03, 2013, Esmatullah moved to Jakarta, and in 2014, he got officially recognized refugee by the UNHCR. Since he did not have the right to work or way to support himself in Indonesia, he went to Kalideres Immigration Centre in Jakarta to ask for assistance. After waiting for months outside the immigration office, he was finally transferred to a community house in Bekasi.

While living in limbo, Esmatullah has been improving his English skills. Also, he has been playing football, and volleyball and doing exercise to stay healthy. Life for Esmatullah has been very challenging. He has been waiting since 2011 to be resettled in a safe country where he can have access to his basic human rights, but nothing has happened ever since. He says:

“I have been waiting for 12 years here in a state of limbo. I want to meet my family in a safe country where I can live with freedom.”

It is Possible!

Esmatullah has been wandering for a home for almost 23 years. His hope is to reunite with his family in a safe country that he can call home.

It is possible! Since he 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 Esmatullah directly on Facebook – or by email: esmatulla.hussaini34@gmail.com – or through WhatsApp: +62 857-7345-6440.

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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