Name: Mohammad Salim Nazari

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia since 2014.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, future mechanic.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Needed: 8,000 CAD for his sponsorship application in Canada.

When Bakhtawar Nazari made the desperate decision to have her 15 years old son Salim smuggled out of Afghanistan in 2014, she hoped he would end up in Australia, where his Hazara background and impoverished circumstances would no longer make him a target of persecution and death threats. Instead, Salim has spent the last 8 years in limbo in Indonesia. Not only is he separated from his family in Afghanistan, but as a refugee, Salim cannot attend school, work, drive and travel to another city. He now has a team of 5 Canadian sponsors and needs 8,000 CAD for his first year in Canada.

His Story

Salim was born in January 1999, in Jaghori district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan.

The Hazara people of Afghanistan have long been targets of persecution and massacres because of their culture, religion, and love for education. He was only 9 years old when his father was killed by the Taliban. With his brother dead, Salim’s uncle then wasted no time in taking over the family farm, turning his younger brother’s widow and children into virtual slaves. As he grew older, Salim was seen as a greater threat to his uncle and cousin, and they warned his mother they would use their Taliban connections to keep him – and her, in line. It was at this point that Salim’s mother, Bakhtawar, sought out the people smuggler, a dangerous but, in her view, necessary move to get Salim to safety.

“I was only 15 years old, and it was very difficult for me to travel alone in a dangerous way.”

The Way

After arriving in Kabul, Salim flew to New Delhi, India on October 25, 2014. From there, he went to Singapore and then on to Jakarta, Indonesia by plane on November 9, 2014.

Life in Indonesia

Salim registered himself with the UNHCR in Jakarta on November 13, 2014. Due to not having the right to work or way to support himself in Indonesia, he went to Balikpapan Immigration Centre to ask for assistance. On December 18, 2014, he was transferred to a detention centre where he remained for one year. Then, he was transferred to a community house in Makassar on December 14, 2015. Since then, he has been living there.

Last Word!

Now 23, Salim has had a difficult time as an Indonesian detainee. He has seen other refugees in the camp die of ill health and even suicide as they wait for a third country to accept them. Salim spends hours every day in online English courses and has found some personal satisfaction in learning car mechanics from a local auto repair shop. He knows he can never go back to Afghanistan, but his dream is still to get to a country where he can work toward a career that will help him put down roots and maybe one day sponsor his mother to join him. Canada might be that place.

As a UNHCR refugee, Mohammad Salim Nazari is eligible for Canada’s private sponsorship program.

He now has a team of five Canadians who have agreed to sponsor him privately as a refugee. The team is currently completing the necessary application work, and on his own, Salim has raised half the funds he needs to apply for refugee status in Canada. Once he has the rest of the funds ($8,000 CAD), his team feels things will move quickly with his application.

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

You can also reach out to Mohammad Salim directly through his WhatsApp: +62 895-2277-9609.

We hope that with your generous support, this bright, hard-working young man can finally emerge from this tragic story to start a new life in Canada.

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