Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 wasContinue reading “Rafi’s Story”

“I hope that one day I will be able to live like a free human in a peaceful place. I will be free from persecution and religious and ethnic discriminations.” It’s probably fair to say that, for the average Canadian, it is difficult to imagine how a young boy of 13 could manage the journeyContinue reading “Abdul – A Profile in Courage, Perseverance and Adaptability”

For over a century, the Hazara community has suffered from targeted discrimination, persecution, and massacres because of their ethnicity and Shi’ite faith in a predominantly Sunni-Muslim country. In the 1890s, 60 per cent of the Hazara population was killed, and those who survived were dispossessed of their land, displaced from their homes and sold asContinue reading “Hazara Community – Persecution and Perseverance”

Indonesia never signed the UN refugee convention and continues to refuse to do so. Refugees cannot work, seek formal education and are restricted in their movement within the country and cities. They are effectively turned into illegal immigrants, kept under surveillance and ostracized by the rest of society. Even if the asylum seekers are recognizedContinue reading “Indonesia – an unsafe haven”