A Scholar with a Mission: Musa’s Story
Several years ago, as a university student in Afghanistan, Musa had a dream: to finish his education so that he could work and serve his country. He was in the middle of pursuing a Science degree when the refugee crisis was beginning to gain momentum. Many of his friends and peers were fleeing to seek safety and asylum elsewhere. “At the time, I didn’t want to become a refugee,” he says. But by 2012, out of the 26 people who had been in his high school graduating class, Musa was only one of two who had stayed.
Being Hazara, Musa is part of an ethnic group that faces significant discrimination and persecution in Afghanistan. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics in 2013, he spent many months looking for work — but found himself locked out of most opportunities due to his ethnicity. Although he had ambitions of helping his home country, his dreams were growing increasingly distant. Due to the ongoing conflicts, and because the Hazara people are targeted by the Taliban, it was no longer safe for him to stay. So he began to look for other options.
Many of his friends, who left a few years prior, had stayed in transit countries like Indonesia for only brief periods of time before moving on to Australia or Europe. Some had found opportunities for work or higher education. In 2014, he left for Indonesia with a plan: stay for a year or two, then seek resettlement in the United States, Canada, or Australia. After that, he would look for an opportunity to earn his Masters and eventually become a researcher. But after his arrival, many countries began tightening up their borders to refugees. Five years later, he still remains in Indonesia.
Although he has managed to adapt to life here, many things perplexed him at first, particularly the food and local culinary traditions. For the first few days, he only ate biscuits and rice as he couldn’t handle the spicy local fare. Outside, he would see stalls and carts serving up many different types of food, and wonder, “Why do they eat that?” He also remembers being especially puzzled by the strange sounds that food carts made as they passed by -- a variety of gongs, whistles, and tones. “What is this sound?” It wasn’t until later that he realized each gerobak (cart) had a signature sound to indicate what kind of food it had for sale.
Because he hadn’t yet developed a taste for the local cuisine, Musa went to the market to pick up some produce. He tried to purchase a kilogram of tomatoes, but because he didn’t speak a word of Bahasa, he tried to communicate using only hand gestures. The shopkeeper couldn’t understand him. Musa started piling tomatoes on the scale himself. People laughed and engaged in some good-natured teasing, calling him “bule gila” (crazy foreigner). He didn’t understand what they were saying at the time, but laughed along with them anyway.
Musa has plenty of stories to tell from his adjustment period. For instance, the time he got stuck at a train station for five hours because he couldn’t ask for directions. Or the time he was woken up, confused and alarmed, by the sound of drums beating outside at the crack of dawn. (It was the first morning of Ramadhan, and people were announcing it was time for the first meal before fasting.) As a scholar at heart, occasions like this inspired him to start learning. He began researching about Indonesia online, reading up on basic conversation and etiquette. He spoke with locals to understand their culture better. Slowly, he developed a deep appreciation for the country and its people. He admired their hospitality and their patience. “The people are really kind,” Musa says. He delved deeper and deeper into his learning, even reading about Indonesian history and the heroes it celebrates.
He was fascinated by how the country, which also had a history of ethnic and religious division, managed to achieve relative peace. “It’s completely different from Afghanistan,” he remarks. ”There is enough knowledge to accept one another in this country. They are all human and they live here. They follow the rules, the law. And they have respect for this.”
Once he started to find his footing here, he began looking for opportunities. At the end of 2014, he heard about Roshan, a school that had just opened for refugees. At the time, his English was “really awful”, so he went to apply as a student. There, what he saw was a group of people dedicating their time to helping refugees. He realized that he, too, had a responsibility to help his own community. In 2015, he joined as a volunteer math teacher.
“When I joined Roshan, I felt, ‘Oh, here is an opportunity’,” Musa remembers. “You cannot earn anything, but you can serve your pupils who don’t have other access to education.” He started out teaching three or four students, but the demand for refugee education was high. “Every term, the number of students was growing and growing.”
As time passed, his responsibilities at Roshan grew as well. Earlier this year, Musa became the coordinator for Roshan’s General Education Diploma (GED) Support Program, which helps students work toward a certificate equivalent to a U.S. high school diploma. “Brandon put me in charge of this,” he says, referring to Roshan’s Program Director. “But I was completely confused. I didn’t know what to do because it was completely new for me,” Musa laughs. But he relied on his strength in researching to help him adapt to the role. He was able to find the right resources and connect with mentors to give students the learning support they needed. Now, he is helping 42 students at Roshan -- and several more at other refugee learning centers -- prepare for their GED exams. Not surprisingly, 26 participants have already passed the GED Math subject exam, and no participant has failed an exam to date!
Although he has had to put his original plan on hold, he holds onto his dreams with hope and optimism. “Right now, I know I’m far from my own plan which I had for my future,” Musa says. But he has found a renewed purpose in helping fellow refugees. “I work for this community. Maybe I’m in Roshan, maybe I’m not, but I will work for the refugee community and serve them in any way.”
One day, he hopes to continue his education and fulfill his ambition of becoming a researcher -- perhaps studying the existence of aliens, which has been a “big dream” of his since his first year of university. “Maybe about the aliens, maybe not,” he jokes. “But I will continue.”