Name: Muhammad Ali Bahrami

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, speak Urdu, soccer player, boxer and fitness lover, experienced cook.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

After the Taliban captured Muhammad Ali and his father, they beat and tortured both of them. Finding an opportunity, Muhammad Ali’s father sacrificed his life and saved Muhammad Ali by helping him escape from there. He fled to Indonesia in early 2015.

Since then, he has been living without his basic human rights. He is a hard worker and loves to become a barber one day. He now needs a group of five Canadian friends who can bring him to Canada where he can get proper education, pursue his dream and reunite with his family one day.

Captured and Tortured

Muhammad Ali was born in 1999 in a village in the Jaghori district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan. He had a happy family of 5 including his mother, father, two younger brothers and himself. Besides going to school, he used to help his father on the farm.

The Hazara people of the region have long been targets of persecution and massacres because of their culture, religion, and love for education. One day in 2014, Muhammad Ali and his father were going to Ghazni for some work, and some members of the Taliban intercepted their car. The members of the Taliban took them including the taxi driver to a room in an unknown place where they started beating and torturing Muhammad Ali and his father.

Later on, the members of the Taliban took the car driver out of the room. Muhammad Ali’s father knew that he and his son would be killed if they did not escape from there. He helped Muhammad Ali get out of the room through its window and told him not to look back and keep running.

                   “It was the last time I saw my father.”

Leaving Home

Muhammad Ali kept running until he reached a highway where he was helped by a car driver who took him to Ghazni. From there, he went to Kabul and stayed in a hotel where many other Hazaras were staying. Fortunately, he found his maternal uncle’s contact information with the help of an acquaintance. When he told his uncle what had happened to him, his uncle contacted his mother and they both decided to send Muhammad Ali to Indonesia because the Taliban had his picture and they could easily capture and kill him in the country.

  “It was my first time traveling alone and I was only 16 years old.”

After his uncle arranged for a people smuggler, he flew to New Delhi, India in early 2015. From there, he went to Singapore and then on to Surabaya, Indonesia by plane on April 4, 2015.

Life as a Refugee

From Surabaya, he was brought to Jakarta by car, and then he registered himself with the UNHCR in April 2015. Due to not having the right to work or a way to support himself in the new country, he went to Kupang Immigration Centre to ask for assistance. The behavior of immigration authorities was very cruel to Muhammad Ali and other refugees. They were being treated like criminals.

“At first, the immigration authorities did not accept me, then they took around 3 million Indonesian Rupiah from me and transferred me to a hotel with other refugees.”

Muhammad Ali loves playing soccer, training in boxing and going to the gym. While living in Kupang, he and his friend tried to participate in a boxing competition, but the immigration authorities did not allow them. Also, he and other refugees in the hotel were forbidden to exercise outside. While facing such restrictions, he kept reading books and learning English.

His Dreams

In July 2019, Muhammad Ali was transferred to a community house in Surabaya. Since then, he has been living there.

He wants to become a hairstylist and he used to cut his friends’ hair. But as a refugee, he cannot get proper education, work, travel to another city and even open a bank account. However, he still has hopes as he exercises every day and studies to have a better life in the future.

 His dream is to build a good life for his family in a safe country like Canada. He is a hard worker and loves to learn new languages and skills. Since working and getting a proper education are denied to him in Indonesia, he has only one way to start living again with freedom.

An Opportunity

As a UNHCR refugee, he is eligible for Canada’s private sponsorship program. He needs a group of five Canadian friends to support him. He says:

“Canadians are known for their hospitality where they have helped refugees settle in their country. I look forward to meeting 5 Canadian sponsors who will offer to hold my hand in this bad situation.”

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

You can also reach out to him directly on Facebook – or through WhatsApp: +62 813-3775-3906.

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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