It all went on until one day when I woke up, looked in the mirror and I couldn’t recognise myself anymore.
The war (Arab Spring) started in my home country Syria in 2011, which pushed many Syrian families to move to Turkey as refugees. I decided to go to Turkey to volunteer as I thought that if I help someone else, I could help myself too. I witnessed the horrific situation at the Turkish-Syrian border and it was terrible. Upon my return to Malaysia after staying there for several months, my appearance changed. I had grown my long beard, which made me look like a religious person. It was because having spent time with a lot of the good people, I felt the need to look like them.
One day during the Ramadhan month, I saw on Facebook that a group of students was doing fundraising work by cooking meals and selling them to the public. I volunteered with them and we visited an Iraqi single mother. There was no sight of food inside the house even though it was Ramadhan. Then it hit me. It reminded me of how good my life is because I always have food on the table despite the strained relationship I had with my father.
From that day onwards, I started to visit and help more refugees and homeless people. 3 years later in 2016, I founded Give and Go, a social enterprise that aims to inspire others in the act of giving and reaching out to all refugees in Malaysia. We believe that everybody deserves to be helped, regardless of his or her background.
We also help the homeless and orphans, but our primary focus is still the refugees. We give them necessities such as towels, combs, and stationery sets. We even hosted the ‘Refugees Got Talent’ competition because we believe that refugees are talented, too. Many of them can sing, dance and play the guitar well. Our goal for that program was to make sure they have fun because many of them have mental health issues and psychological problems resulting from their traumatic experiences. But they are afraid to ask for help. When you reach out to them and want to provide counselling, they will never come, and it’s just not easy.
The refugees in Malaysia struggle a lot. Nobody likes to be called a refugee because it makes one feel vulnerable, to keep asking for help. Most refugees coming to Malaysia don’t speak the local language and couldn’t understand the culture. No one teaches them the dos and don’ts over here. It’s always good to have the proper guidelines available because they have never lived in a foreign country before.
Sometimes, it takes a long time for them to finally be resettled by the United Nations office to another country. I hope that the refugees will one day be recognised by the Malaysian government so that they can work, study, and get affordable treatment at the hospital. I have friends who have been here for almost 8 years now. Can you imagine a kid being here for that long and not being able to learn at school? Some of these refugees have come to me and told me that what they need is a proper job so they can have a steady income, and not donations.
I wish that one day there won’t be any refugee anymore and that the word ‘refugee’ will be removed from the dictionary. I hope that they will finally get to return because home is where you’re at your happiest. The one thing we won’t forget about Malaysia is that you guys opened the door for us while the Gulf countries and the rest of the Middle East closed theirs.
I haven’t seen my own family for 7 years now, so it does get lonely for me. But with Give & Go, I have my brothers and sisters here, and the people who love to be around me. By helping people, I feel like God is helping me, too. I want to let my family know that I miss them and that I’m sorry for all the things I have done in the past. I’m doing my best to be the best person I can be. And maybe one day I can build a great family of my own.
We will be publishing our Refugees Storytelling campaign soon. Keep an eye out on our page!
Photostory by Samantha Siow and Mushamir Mustafa
Edited by Sydrah Mustaffa
