My name is Mohammad Rafi Mahmoudi, a Hazara ethnic from the Turkman valley, Parwan province, Afghanistan. I am 23 years old, and the second child in my family of 7 with 5 other siblings. Currently, I am a third-year student at the Pelita Harapan University, Indonesia, majoring in Hospitality Management.
Life in Afghanistan
I was born into a normal family. My father was a construction worker. Later, he found employment in a rural development company and got contracts from the government and private organizations. However, this was a problem for people who worked with them because the Taliban was targeting them. They accused them of treason and called them infidels, especially Hazaras and the Shia community who were the main targets. My father often went to other cities to work and came home every one or two months. I studied until 10th grade until 2015. After school, I sometimes worked in our farms and participated in sports with friends.
The reason I left Afghanistan
One day, I went with my father to Kabul to fix my laptop and due to the lack of computer repair shops in Parwan, we had to go to Kabul. We went with his friend who was a driver that takes passengers to Kabul and back to Parwan. My father went to his work while I was supposed to come back with his friend home.
Since I could remember, the Taliban were always searching for people like my father who worked with organizations and the government. They had spies everywhere and reported back to the Taliban. One of their victims that day was my father who was captured by the Taliban on our way to Kabul. They stopped our car, my father and his friend immediately figured out what was about to happen. My father and his friend told me not to talk and to deny I was my father’s son. They captured my father and took him away. I was frozen and could not do anything or think. I was dead scared. I was 16 years old at the time. That was my first encounter with the Taliban.
I cried a lot after the Taliban took my father. They took everything they could find, including my laptop which had pictures of our family, including my father. My father’s friend told me to stay in Kabul in a hotel and wait for him as he goes to check the situation. Few days later, he came to pick me as we went home to my mother. He told us I had to leave Afghanistan because it was only a matter of time before the Taliban figured out the connection. Noor Ali, the driver, was to arrange everything about my departure.
Journey to Indonesia
Noor Ali found an agent who could take me out of Afghanistan. On March 2015, I left Afghanistan and two days after arrived in India. From there, I flew to Malaysia. I was in Malaysia for a few weeks and in April, I embarked on and arrived in Indonesia, Pekanbaru city. The journey to Malaysia was by plane but from there to Jakarta, Indonesia, it was walking, boats, and cars. After 10 days of journey, I arrived in Jakarta where I registered with UNHCR.
Life in Indonesia
After registering with UNHCR, I moved to Bogor where most of the Afghan refugees were living, and I lived there for about a year. While living in Bogor, a city close to Jakarta, I attended English Language and Bahasa Indonesia classes. After about a year in Bogor, I ran out of money. So, I went to the UNHCR and requested for shelter and support. They accepted me in the shelter for under-aged people. When I turned 18, I was removed from the shelter. From there, I went to live on the streets in front of the UNHCR office in Jakarta for some months. Some of my friends offered to help me, and I became friends with them while I was in Bogor. I lived with them for around six months when afterwards, I went to a place called Kalideres, an old building that was once a military school. I went there because I heard that UNHCR or IOM will help the refugees who need support. In Kalideres, we had no electricity, no water, no room or furniture and the roof was broken. While I was there, Indonesian people, mostly, brought us food and water even when we had no aids from UNHCR and IOM. Some people volunteered to teach refugee kids in Kalideres. We learnt they were from a university; I was assisting them as well. Fortunately, in 2019, they offered me a scholarship to the university. Since then, I have been living in the university’s dormitory while majoring in Hospitality Management.
My Purpose
It is my dream to meet my family and help them get out of the bad situation in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban takeover of the country, the situation has only become more dire. I want to live in a country where there is peace. I want to help the community and be a useful person. I love sports, especially football. I want to be hospitable and be able to serve people. I once did a one-month internship at an Indonesian coffeeshop, and I started to like making coffee and tasting it. Hopefully, one day, I will have my own coffee shop and put a smile on people’s face and make their day.
Quinte Refuge 