Name: Nasim Khuda Bakhshi

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

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, experienced farmer, former electronic store owner.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Being informed by his cousin that the Taliban had been looking for him to capture and kill him, Nasim fled to Indonesia by boat.

He spent four years inside a detention centre. His dream is to pursue his education but as a refugee, he cannot get proper education in Indonesia. His only hope is to find a group of Canadian friends who can help him start his life again in Canada.

Childhood

Nasim was born in January 1994, in Malistan district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan. As a child, he was very interested in learning and getting an education, so he was enrolled in school at the age of eight. Unfortunately, in 2005, his father asked him to leave school and help him on the farm and some other household chores.

“I didn't have any option but to accept my father's decision even though I really liked to study at school.”

Nasim then got busy helping his father on the farm, building their house and guarding their flocks of sheep and goats in the village. His life changed when his father died in 2010.

“My father's death changed my life entirely. I was feeling lost at a very young age.”

The Incident

In 2013, Nasim’s friends and relatives helped him start a small business of selling electronic items like, dishes, antennas and TVs in the local marketplace of the Malistan district. Beside selling electronic items in his shop, he was assembling and installing dishes and antennas too.

The Hazara people of Afghanistan have long been targets of persecution and massacres because of their culture, religion, and love for education. One day in 2014, he received a phone call from an anonymous person who threatened Nasim to stop selling electronic items or else, he would kill him. Nasim did not take it seriously thinking that it would be any of his competitors in the market who would want him to stop his business, because he was doing well and his business was just taking off.

10 days later, Nasim went to Ghazni for purchasing goods for his shop. While returning to the Malistan district, his cousin who had left Ghazni for Malistan earlier than him, called him and told him to return to Ghazni as fast as he could. He said that the Taliban had been checking every car and searching for Nasim. He also added that the Taliban had Nasim’s picture.

“It was the time I realized that the person on the phone call who was threatening me was the Taliban.”

Escaped

When Nasim went back to Ghazni and returned the goods he had bought from the shop, he was told to come the next day to take his money back since the shop owner did not have cash at that moment.

Nasim stayed hidden in a hotel. After taking his money back the next day, he was walking to a money changer shop when he realized that he was being followed by a suspicious car.

“Realizing that I was at a significant risk, I got very scared.”

He was walking to find a way to escape and luckily, he found himself in a narrow alley where cars could not go through. He quickly passed the alley and went to Naw Abad, in Ghazni which is a small Hazara populated town. From there, he went to Kabul by car. After arriving there, he contacted his uncle and told him about the incident. His uncle suggested him to leave Afghanistan immediately. With the help of a hotel staff where he was staying, he arranged for a people smuggler who did not mention the name of the place he was taking Nasim to. But he only said that it would be a safe place.

The Way to Indonesia

A week later, Nasim flew to New Delhi, India on July 27, 2014 and stayed there for 10 days. Then on August 6, he went to Malaysia by plane where he stayed for 3 days. On August 9, 2014, he arrived in Pekanbaru by a ferry boat.

“While getting on the boat, I was immensely scared and my hands were trembling. It was a small ferry boat full of passengers and it was hard to find even a tiny spot for sitting. On the other hand, the stormy ocean made the scene more frightening.”

Detention Centre

After arriving in Jakarta, Nasim registered himself with the UNHCR on August 14, 2014. With no right to work or way to support himself in the new country, he went to Makassar Immigration Centre to ask for assistance. He spent his difficult days there due to not having access to proper food and a place to sit or sleep. On November 11, 2014, he was transferred to a detention centre that was like a real prison.

Since the detention centre’s rooms that looked like cages were full, Nasim and some other refugees were placed in tents. He spent six months inside an old tent where he could not sleep on rainy nights. Everything including his mattress was getting soaked due to the rain there. He was then put in the corridor of the detention centre for 4 months and then he was provided a shared room with 3 other refugees.

Despite living like a prisoner there, he spent his time learning English and the Indonesian language. Also, he kept running, doing cardio workouts and playing futsal to stay healthy and fit.

“Learning new English words and making sentences with them made me happy and helped me to get relieved.”

Nasim also attended other courses like, handicraft sessions especially making handmade wood houses. In the detention centre, he was interviewed by the UNHCR authorities and got his refugee recognition there.

His Life Now

After 4 years, he received his freedom from the detention centre and was transferred to a community house in Makassar on July 25, 2018. Since then, he has been living there and keeping himself busy by reading books, improving his English and doing regular exercise.

As a refugee, Nasim cannot work, get proper education, drive and travel to another city. On the other hand, he has been very worried for his family who is left in danger in Afghanistan – especially after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban.

There is a Way!

There is a way for him to resettle in a safe country like Canada where he can pursue his education, support his family and reunite with them one day.

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

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

You can also reach out to Nasim 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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