Name: Sharif Jawhari

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, experienced mason and painter, FULLY FUNDED.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Sharif grew up in Pakistan as a refugee. Due to the unsafe situation, he returned to his country where he was abducted by the Taliban but he succeeded to escape from there to Indonesia.

He was kept for 4 years inside a detention centre without any crime. Now, he hopes to find a group of five Canadian friends who can help him come to Canada where he can work, pursue his dreams and live in peace.

Background

Sharif Jawhari was born on January 4, 1989 in Jaghori district in Ghazni province in Afghanistan. His father was the leader of the Nehzat Group in his village. At that time, there was a war between Nehzat and Nasr groups. The Nehzat was about to lose and Sharif’s father moved his family to Quetta, Pakistan in 1993 for their safety. His father then returned to his village in the same year. Those days, the son of a commander, Khaliq Dad Hassani who was in the Nasr Group was killed. Commander Khaliq Dad warned Sharif’s father that he knew him as a leader of the Nehzat Group and that he would kill the whole family of Sharif’s father to avenge his son. After a few months, Sharif’s father got killed in the village.

Returning to His Country

On the other side, Sharif grew up in Quetta, Pakistan. He was working at a hardware store where plumbing tools and paints were being sold.

The Hazara people in Pakistan have been targets of persecution and massacres due to their religious and political beliefs. Since the number of target killings and bomb blasts on the Hazara people was increasing, Sharif decided to return to Afghanistan and make arrangements to bring his family back there too. In 2014, he went to his uncle’s home in the Jaghori district where his uncle was shocked listening to his decision of living in Afghanistan.

“After I explained the unsafe situation in Pakistan and my decision of moving back to Afghanistan, my uncle said that it was not a good time because my father’s enemies were in power and they would kill me if they knew about my arrival.”

Sharif did not take his uncle’s words seriously and after some days, he decided to go to Kabul to find work and support his family.

Abducted

On October 17, 2014, Sharif was on the way from Jaghori to Ghazni and he was intercepted by the Taliban in the area called Dasht-e-Qarabagh. When a member of the Taliban asked his name, he said Arif, but the member of the Taliban said that Sharif was lying and he showed Sharif’s picture with his name written on it.

“It was my first time looking at the Taliban from near and I was trembling with fear. I remembered my uncle’s words.”

The Taliban tied Sharif’s hands and took him to an old castle. During night prayers, Sharif noticed that all members of the Taliban had gone to offer their prayers except one member. Sharif knew that it was the only chance for him to escape from there and save his life, so he started making plans. He asked the only member of the Taliban to untie his hands so that he could pray as well. The member of the Taliban agreed and after untying his hands, he took Sharif to the washroom for ablution.

“I saw a stone there, so I hit on the member of the Taliban’s head with that stone and ran away from there.”

His Journey

Two hours later, Sharif reached a road where he asked for help from a car driver. The car driver took him to a hotel in Ghazni where he contacted his mother and shared everything with her. His mother told him to go to Kabul immediately and find a way out of Afghanistan. After arriving in Kabul, Sharif arranged for a people smuggler, and on October 28, 2014, he flew to New Delhi, India. From there, he went to Malaysia by plane and then on to Indonesia by boat on November 2, 2014.

Life in Indonesia

After arriving in Jakarta, Sharif registered himself with the UNHCR. With no right to work or way to support himself in the new country, he went to Balikpapan Immigration Centre to ask for assistance. On December 14, 2014, he was transferred to an overcrowded detention centre and was kept there for 4 years. On November 15, 2018, he was freed and transferred to a community house in Makassar City. Since then, he has been living there.

The Only Way!

Sharif dreams to be a mason and painter in the future, but as a refugee, he cannot work, drive, get proper education and even open a bank account. The only way for him to pursue his dream and live his life again is to resettle in a safe country like Canada.

Since Sharif Jawhari 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, another good thing about him is that he is FULLY FUNDED.

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 also reach out to Sharif 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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