Finding Confidence and Purpose: Sajjad’s Story
Hello all, I hope you’re doing well and staying healthy.
My name is Sajjad Alizada and I am originally from Afghanistan. I am the online presence associate at Roshan Learning Center. I am an in-house photographer and make content for Roshan’s social media through photography, videography, designing, and editing.
My journey started with Roshan as a secondary student back in 2017. I was surprised to see different people from different backgrounds coming together and making this Roshan community for a good cause to empower refugee education in Jakarta, Indonesia. Today, I feel confident and capable of speaking in front of you all. This was possible because we had an English learning environment and native English speakers volunteers.
Roshan’s dedicated volunteers contributed their precious time from their hearts to help Roshan students in their journey of learning English and other subjects. I remember we had extracurricular activities like having a topic or presentation every Monday to present to the class. We were always trying to speak in English both inside and outside of the class with our classmates, teachers, volunteers, and friends even though we were not that good. We tried as much as we could. As time passed, I got the confidence to speak more clearly and present something in front of the audience.
When Roshan introduced the GED program and I turned 18, I joined the GED program, passed all 4 subjects, and graduated in November 2020. In the meantime, I also volunteered as a math teacher for middle school students where I gained knowledge on how to interact with the students, teachers, and staff members. On the other hand, helping with Roshan’s social media is where I get hands-on experience with designing, taking pictures, and interacting with people from different departments both inside and outside of Roshan. There were times when I didn’t know how to do something but I had the internet to look and learn from it. That’s how I keep scaling up my skills and growing as a professional. Even now, I am still learning how to edit videos in Adobe Premier Pro.
Through all these experiences I had at Roshan. It made me feel more confident in person that I have accomplished something in my life from having a GED Diploma to improving my English and communication skills. Volunteering at Roshan gives me a sense of pride that I’m giving back to this community where my journey has started.
Last but not least, this is how Roshan transformed me from being a secondary student to an Online Presence Associate. Roshan has not just transformed my life but also several refugees who were and are now living in Jakarta while waiting for their resettlement to other countries.