Name: Jalil Ahmadi

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, experienced school teacher and volunteer.

PARTIALLY FUNDED

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Jalil was a school teacher in his village in Afghanistan. After being captured by the Taliban, he was tortured and beaten. Knowing that he would be killed soon, he fled from there to Indonesia by boat in search of a safe country in 2014.

While living inside the detention centre and then in the community house, Jalil served his refugee fellows as a volunteer teacher. Jalil has generous donors who will provide $12,000 of the $16,500 needed to support him during his first year of sponsorship. He hopes now to find a group of 5 Canadian friends who can sponsor him to come to Canada to start his life again.

A Happy Childhood

Jalil was born in January 1992, in a village in the Ghazni province in Afghanistan. His father was first a teacher and then, he joined the Afghan National Police. Jalil was a teacher in a high school in his village. He and his father used to contribute part of their income to poor people in the village by buying basic needs for the winter each year.

“Life was great. I always felt helpful and hopeful for being able to help others.”

Tortured by the Taliban

The Hazara people of the region have long been targets of persecution and violence because of their culture, religion and love of education.

On May 24, 2014, Jalil was on his way to Ghazni with other passengers inside a taxi. When they were passing along the Qarabagh district, some armed members of the Taliban stopped them. After searching passengers and the taxi, they found Jalil’s school documents, his ATM card and his uncle’s documents who was in the Afghan National Army from his bag. Then Jalil and another Hazara passenger were taken to an old ruined house where they were locked in a dark room.

“They tortured us a lot and kept telling us that Hazaras and Shia are infidels.”

The Taliban also accused Jalil of working for foreigners. On the second day, he was again tortured and beaten by the Taliban. He still has the scars of being tortured on his body. Jalil told the other Hazara passenger who had become his friend that the Taliban had found his school documents, educational audio CDs and his uncle’s documents who had joined Afghan National Army. They both were sure that Jalil would be killed by the Taliban and they knew that only one of them could escape from there, so by late-night, Jalil’s friend helped him to escape from the room through a small window.

Fleeing his Homeland

After reaching a road, Jalil made it to Kabul by car. Two days later, he contacted his family and got the shocking news that his uncle was murdered by the Taliban in Helmand province. His father also had disappeared from the way of Jaghori to Ghazni. Jalil was sure now that he was the next target of the Taliban. He had no choice but to leave his family behind and flee to a safe place.

“No other alternative remained for me. I had to run for my life.”

After Jalil arranged for a human smuggler, he flew from Kabul to New Delhi, India on May 31, 2014. From there, he went to Malaysia by plane and then on to Indonesia by boat in June 2014.

Detention Centre

After arriving in Jakarta, he registered himself at the UNHCR office on June 16, 2014. With no right to work or way to support himself in the new country, Jalil went to Makassar Immigration Centre to ask for assistance. On July 1, 2014, he was transferred to a detention centre there.

“I was feeling like I was in a real prison. We were locked up, facing closed doors guarded by security officials.”

While living there, Jalil started helping his refugee fellows as a volunteer teacher. After spending 5 months in the detention centre, Jalil received his freedom and was transferred to a community house on December 10, 2014.

His Dreams for Canada

"I would like go to Canada to be far from war, to be away from poverty and misery, to be free. In Afghanistan, we could not choose to wear clothes, we could not access to basic human right like education because of discrimination. I want to be a successful man - to be safe to be a kind and useful person for our community and society, far from war and injustice, poverty and misery."

Jalil dreams of having the things we sometimes take for granted - work, vacations, parents nearby to care for, a wife and a family. He would like to go back to school and study engineering, and use these skills to help those in need. He can't wait to visit the CN Tower, and to see Niagara Falls.

You Can Help!

Like other refugees, he has been deprived of his basic human rights. He is not allowed to work, study, drive and travel to another city. His passion is to learn new languages, skills and to help others.

As a UNHCR refugee, Jalil is eligible for Canada’s private sponsorship program. He has most of the funds in place to support him for his first year in Canada. All he needs is a group of five Canadian friends to sponsor him, and to help him when he arrives.

To help support Jalil as a sponsor, please contact Stephen Watt on Facebook.

You can also reach out to Jalil 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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