Name: Rohullah Shafihi

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, driver.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

After being captured by the Taliban, Rohullah found an opportunity and he escaped to Kabul and then to Indonesia in 2014.

He spent about 3 and a half years inside a detention centre. Now, he has been worried for his family who is left in Afghanistan. His only hope is to find a group of Canadian friends who can help him come to Canada where he can reunite with his family one day.

His Story

Rohullah Shafihi was born in January 1989, in a village in Jaghori district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan.

The Hazara people of the region have long been targets of persecution and massacres due to their culture, religion, and love for education. In 2010, Rohullah bought a car and started working as a taxi driver. There was a guy named Jano who used to sell wine in the marketplace of Anguri a village in the Jaghori. One day in 2014, Rohullah was coming back from Ghazni to his village, and a friend of Jano gave him 4 bottles of wine and told him to deliver them to Jano and he would be paid well for that. So, Rohullah agreed and he hid bottles of wine inside the car. On the way, the Taliban intercepted his car and started searching until they found the bottles of the wine.

“Members of the Taliban asked me about the owner of those bottles. I was very frightened. I said that I did not know and they started beating me.”

The Taliban let his passengers go but they tied Rohullah’s hands and put him in the car. They were taking him somewhere and suddenly, the local police appeared on the way and the clash broke out between the Taliban and the police force. Luckily, Rohullah found the opportunity and he ran away from there.

“I went to Kabul by car and hid there for 2 months.”

His Way to Indonesia

Rohullah knew that he was no longer safe in Afghanistan. Since he had escaped the Taliban, he was at the risk of being captured and killed there. He arranged for a people smuggler with the help of his friend Arif, who was living in his village. In early September 2014, he flew from Kabul to New Delhi, India. From there, he went to Malaysia by plane and then on to Pekanbaru, Indonesia by boat on September 28, 2014.

Life in the Detention Centre

After arriving in Jakarta, Rohullah registered himself with the UNHCR on October 15, 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. In November 2014, he was transferred to a detention centre that was overcrowded and refugees did not have access to proper food, clean water and proper medical care.

While living there, Rohullah kept himself busy learning English from other refugee volunteers and doing exercises.

On June 6, 2018, he received his freedom from the detention centre and was transferred to a community house in Batam.

His Concerns

As a refugee, Rohullah has been deprived of his basic human rights. He is not allowed to work, study, drive and travel to another city.

Since the Taliban has taken over Afghanistan, Rohullah has been more worried for his wife and 10 years old daughter who are left in Afghanistan. Under the Taliban’s government, no woman is allowed to go outside alone, and Rohullah cannot help his wife and daughter since he has been stuck in Indonesia.

“I hope to be helped by kind Canadian friends to be resettled in Canada where I can reunite with my family again.”

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

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

You can also reach out to Rohullah 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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