An angelic-looking 10-year-old-boy sits toying with his pizza at a Jakarta restaurant. It’s the first time he has tasted pizza and he’s unimpressed, pushing his plate aside. Far from the food he knows, Hadayad Ullah, an ethnic Hazara, finds most things in Indonesia strange after arriving from war-torn Afghanistan a month ago. In his short, turbulent life, he has learnt more about arbitrary persecution and murder than about how to read or write. His father was taken away by the Taliban and he has no idea where his mother is, or if she is even alive. They took my father, [I thought] maybe they will take me too. When I think about my mother and father I am sad, I cry all night.” Hadayad is one of four Shia Hazara children living at a south Jakarta shelter for 40 underage migrants. Each made the solitary journey from their home country without a parent or guardian; there are 643 unaccompanied minors in Indonesia registered with the UNHCR. Read more : theguardian/world/2014/jul/02/i-cry-all-night-the-child-asylum-seekers-stranded-in-indonesia
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 03:30:50 +0000