Name: Mohammed Juma Haydari

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, actor, filmmaker.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

After Juma’s arrest by the Taliban due to selling books, movies and satellite items, he was about to be punished to death. Luckily, he escaped and made it to Indonesia in 2014.

While living inside the detention centre, he used his time to improve his skills. Now he is a filmmaker and his dream is to be given an opportunity to study filmmaking and become a professional one day. He now needs a group of Canadian friends who can bring him to Canada where he can fulfill his dream and live with freedom.

His Story

Mohammed Juma was born in 1995 in the Qarabagh district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan. Besides going to school, he used to help his father with farming. In 2013, he was in the 7^th grade in school when he opened a shop in which he used to sell books, DVD movies and satellite dishes etc. According to the Taliban, selling such things (satellite dishes, antennas, DVD movies and foreign books) was considered an act of infidelity. On the other hand, the Hazara people of the region have long been targets of persecution and massacres because of their culture, religion, and love for education. It did not take so long before Juma’s job was noticed by extremists and the Taliban. He once received a threatening letter from the Taliban to stop selling books and satellite items, but he did not take it seriously and kept up his job.

“By selling books and satellite items, I was helping the people of my region gain knowledge and get more information.”

Abducted

On April 25, 2014, Juma had gone to Ghazni to bring books and other items for his shop. When he was returning with goods, he was stopped at the checkpoint of the Taliban in the area called Qarabagh. While searching the car, members of the Taliban found his shop’s goods and then they tied his hands, blindfolded and took him to an unknown place. Juma and one other prisoner were kept inside an old tower.

“We knew that we both would be killed at any time, so we decided to escape from there.”

Juma and the other prisoner untied each other’s hands and got out of the tower. He then kept running until he reached a highway. From there, he went to Ghazni and then to Kabul by car.

Journey to Indonesia

In Kabul, he stayed hidden in a hotel. Since the Taliban had his information, they could easily find and kill him from anywhere in Afghanistan. He had no way but to seek a safe country, so he arranged for a people smuggler with the help of his friend. In April 2014, he flew from Kabul to New Delhi, India. From there, he went to Malaysia by plane and then on to Indonesia by boat. After arriving in Jakarta, he registered himself with the UNHCR on May 5, 2014.

Detention Centre

With no right to work or way to support himself in the new country, Juma went to Makassar Immigration Centre to ask for assistance. On August 14, 2014, he was transferred to a detention centre there.

“Being detained for an uncertain time and without any crime is the most painful feeling in the world, but I always thought about my family there.”

While being treated like prisoners there, Juma tried to improve. He kept studying English and Indonesian languages, attended online film directing courses and read many books. He also wrote a novel that he hopes to publish if he resettles in the third country.

After about three years of living in the detention centre, he was freed and transferred to a community house in Makassar in July 2017. Since then, he has been living there.

His Passion

Juma loves filmmaking. He has made a few short films and hopes to be given an opportunity to study filmmaking and make more movies. The only way for him to continue his passion is to resettle in a safe country like Canada where he can be allowed to study more and live peacefully.

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 Mohammed Juma directly on Facebook – or through WhatsApp: +62 858-2060-9073.

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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