Name: Sharif Muhibi

Profile: Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, living in Indonesia.

Advantages: UN-certified, good English skills, experienced shopkeeper, FULLY FUNDED.

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

Canadian contact: Stephen Watt

Sharif’s father was killed by unknown people in Quetta, Pakistan. He was then stopped on the way by some unknown suspicious people and he sensed that his life was also in danger. He left his family behind and fled to Indonesia by boat to save his life.

Since 2014, he has been stuck in Indonesia where he cannot work, study and live with freedom. He hopes now to find a group of Canadian friends who can help him start his life again in Canada.

Background

Before Sharif was not born, his parents moved from Afghanistan to Quetta, Pakistan due to the unsafe situation in Afghanistan in 1995. Sharif was born on July 1, 1997 in Quetta, Pakistan.

The Hazara people in Pakistan have been targets of persecution and massacres due to their religious and political beliefs. Sharif’s father had a grocery shop and he used to bring vegetables from Hazarganji, a vegetable market in Quetta where Hazara people got targeted multiple times.

Losing His Father

One day, some unknown Pashtun men stopped Sharif’s father when he was on the way to Hazarganji. They told him not to come again for buying vegetables. His father did not listen to them because he was the only supporter of the whole family and he already was not able to earn enough money to feed his family.

“On May 3, 2014, my father was killed on the way of Hazarganji. Since I was the eldest son, I had to undertake the responsibility of my family.”

Leaving Home

On July 23, 2014, Sharif was on the way to Hazarganji to bring vegetables for his shop, and he was stopped by some unknown people. One of them asked the car driver about Sharif and the car driver told them that he was the son of Mohammad Hassan. Then they let Sharif go. When he returned home, he shared everything with his mother, and his mother told him that they would kill him like his father.

“My mother got very worried and she convinced me to leave Pakistan soon to save my life.”

Sharif arranged for a people smuggler and in August 2014, he went to Karachi by car and flew from there to Thailand. Then he went to Malaysia by plane and then on to Indonesia by boat in September 2014.

Life in the Detention Centre

After arriving in Jakarta, Sharif registered himself with the UNHCR on September 29, 2014. With no right to work or way to support himself in Indonesia, he went to Balikpapan Immigration Centre to ask for assistance. On November 7, 2014, he was transferred to a detention centre there.

“I was thinking it would be like a shelter, but then I saw it was a prison with barbed wire and security guards were treating us like prisoners.”

Due to the unbearable situation, Sharif and other refugees were suffering from anxiety and depression. Finally, after protesting for more than a year for their freedom, Sharif was freed and was transferred to a community house in Batam on April 2, 2019.

Solution!

Sharif has been deprived of his basic rights. He cannot work, study, drive and travel to another city. There is no option of returning to Afghanistan either, since Hazara people are not safe there.

It is possible. Since Sharif 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 Sharif is that he is FULLY FUNDED.

If you would like to sponsor Sharif – 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 – or through WhatsApp: +62-812-6145-8270.

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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