Laila and her Restaurant in Kabul

August 23, 2020

Beneath a bridge spanning a heavily polluted inner city river bank live numerous local drug addicts. One can no longer see the ground, because it is covered in layers of garbage, and the stench is overwhelming if you are not used to it. The suffering of war and high unemployment rate have made life all-but-unbearable for some, and for these people drugs have become an easy escape mechanism, eventually causing them to giving up everything else in favor of their addictions. With Afghanistan being one of the world’s largest producer of opium, an industry supported by the Taliban, the numbers of addicts will continue to rise. Now methamphetamine is being made throughout Afghanistan from the naturally abundant ephedra plant, and is rapidly replacing opium as the drug of choice.

In this addict community the crime rate is extremely high, syringe needles float across the surface of the flooded soil, and people walk around as if their souls had been removed. No outsider dares to cross path with this community - unless you are Laila Haidari, who puts her life at extreme risk to convince these addicts to come to her rehabilitation centre, to get clean and restart their lives again. Alone, she climbs into the gutters where many of them lay as she reaches out a hand of guidance and support.

Haidari opened up her own drug rehabilitation centre in a rich suburban neighborhood inside Kabul
city, a place where they would be far away from the drug community where temptation would make it nearly impossible to recover. The men, dressed in orange garments that give them the resemblance of a monks - with shaven heads due to the build up of lice - share a small room together sleeping in hard metal bunk beds. They congratulate one another as they go through the process of detoxing together. The men gather together for meals, activities, chores and prayers, giving them a sense of pride and purpose and a form of family, something they sorely lacked. Like most drug addicts, the men here have lost everything; their jobs, money and their family. They are here to change all of that, to restart their lives again and reunite with the things they once had. Some will succeed, while others will relapse, falling back into the dark world of addiction.

Haidari knew that if she wanted them to stay clean, she would have to find them a job. She decided to open up her own restaurant in Kabul called Taj Begum. Those in recovery would have to prove to her that they were serious about staying sober by staying clean for six months or longer in order to work at the restaurant. Many latch onto this opportunity in hopes to change their future, becoming waiter’s or cooks, cleaners and cashiers. You can tell those who have made it through to the other side of addiction, because a new light shines in their eyes.

Haider has helped around 5,000 drug addicts off the street. They call her mother because for most, Haider is the only person in their lives that gives them that much needed support. Despite the continuous death threats she receives and the difficulties she will encounter if the peace deal falls through, she continues to reach out her hand to these most unfortunate casualties of war.

Wedding at Checkpoint (West Bank)

November 22, 2019

Palestinians gathered together to celebrate the wedding of Ola and Omar at an Israeli military checkpoint. Ola is from the Arara village in the West Bank, and Omar is from Tulkarem, a different village that’s also in the West Bank. In order to cross from one village to the next, you must have a permit. Omar sought a permit to go to wed his bride in her home village, as is their custom, but was denied a permit to do so. Not to be deterred, he attempted to go to her anyways, but the Israeli Army detained Omar and threatened him with administrative detention if he tried to cross without a permit. He was released two days later, and allowed to continue with his plans to wed, albeit at a military checkpoint instead of in Arara.

Asylum Seeker and Single Mother

May 01, 2019

This is Besrat, a mother of two who is currently living in Israel where she is seeking asylum from Eritrea. Her husband was “voluntarily” deported a little over three years ago and took all their money with him. Her second husband left her and remarried after her second child was born. Since there isn’t a legal system for Asylum Seekers, there is no way to hold the father accountable for child support. But Besrat tries her best to make ends meet every day. She cleans houses for a living, but because of chronic pain in her hip and her obligation to her children, she can only work 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. Besrat doesn’t have enough money to consistently provide food for her children and is struggling every single day emotionally and physically.

Everyday Besrat wakes up in a small unkempt room with her two children. They all sleep together on one bed and eat together on a plastic table stationed right next to the bed. Her walls are cracked from years of mold and water damage. She shares one bathroom and a kitchen with two other families who are also Asylum Seekers. Her landlord has increased her rent to 2,100 shekels a month to increase value and interest for a new apartment construction. The conditions she lives in are a total injustice for how much she has to pay. On top of that, ever since the Israeli government passed the 20 percent deposit law, Besrat has 20 percent of her salary taken away from her. This means she pays double the taxes without tax return.

Besrat is just one out of a few thousand women who are struggling. Luckily, there is a way you can help single mothers like Besrat by donating to the Eritrean Women Center. The center provides food and stability for those who are struggling. Now, with the imminent deportation, the Eritrean Women Center could use your help more than ever.

So please take the time to donate by clicking on the link below. If you would like to donate food and supplies please PM me for more details on how to help.

https://www.eritreanwomenscenter.org

http://assaf.org.il/en/node/2

April 18, 2018

Asme Ossi from Eritrea, waits patiently outside the visa center.

Today is Yom Hazikaron - Holocaust Remembrance Day. Like every year, a siren went off to commemorate those who lost their lives during the Holocaust. It’s a powerful moment that allows the bitter memory of that 21st century drama to reverberate in our lives, just for a little, for the sake of reflection. For me, it’s very potent time to reflect on the absolute worst in us, the dark side of our human nature, and to hope that we all can learn from our mistakes and be better.

As I was filming at Bnei Bark, a place where asylum seekers can go to try to renew their visas, a man walked up to me and said: “They didn’t renew my visa. They told me I have 60 days before they deport me to Uganda.” Then the siren went off. As I stood in silent attention, I was keenly aware that many of the others around me, also standing in silence, are in a situation not so dissimilar from those aboard the MS St. Louis in 1939. And if they are refused asylum, they will likely meet the same tragic fate as so many of those Jewish refugees who were turned away. Does history always repeat itself, or can we ever finally learn to do better?

We continue to say ‘never again’, but it’s still happening all over the world. If Yom Hazikaron is going to fulfil its purpose, it needs to catalyze our awareness that state-sponsored persecution continues to prevail, and free people everywhere are obligated to do everything they can to help those who have the courage to flee.

Waly Renews his Visa

November 27, 2017

Waly is from Darfur, but fled to Israel to seek Asylum in order to escape a massive genocide.

I followed Waly’s journey towards renewing his visa, a process that the government attempts to keep secret and does not allow journalists to document.

I walked with him down a secluded dirt road that led to another hidden pathway. It was 5 AM and after many turns down dusty unnamed roads, my sense of direction disappeared long before we arrived at our destination. I started to become anxious, contemplating that the place to which we were headed had been purposely concealed from the outside world, and I was definitely not supposed to be there. As dawn broke, the rich smell of morning air helped to soothe the discomfort I was feeling about being in this place. We walked together between two abandoned factories and joined the hundreds of Asylum Seekers waiting for their visa’s to be renewed.

Waly and I sat along the side of the factory with the rest of the Asylum Seekers. I kept a look out for the police officers walking around who were in charge of patrolling the visa process. If they discovered me there, I would likely be interrogated. At 6 AM, Waly and the rest of the Asylum Seekers were lined up outside a white tent, where government personal issued the renewed visas.

The visa Waly is about to receive only permits him to walk the streets freely without getting arrested. He’s not allowed to work, have any form of healthcare or benefits, and is banned to travel outside of Israel. And obtaining the document is risky; during this visa process, the government will arbitrarily select a hand full of asylum seekers and send them to Holot, a detention center in the middle of the desert, where they are forced to remain up to a year. So it is with a justified trepidation that asylum seekers go to renew their visa.

Asylum seekers have reported that those who work in the visa center for Asylum Seekers treat them as if they are trash. One asylum seeker states:

“He pushed the visa at me. I was completely terrified. I took the visa carefully without saying anything. I did have many questions but I was too frightened to ask them. I knew what was going happen if I said a word. Many friends were arrested and taken to jail in similar situations.”

Addendum 11/20/17:
The Israeli government decided to close down Holot. Some suspect that they might start turning it into a deportation center. All the Eritrean and half of the Sudanese population that were once accepted here will now be sent back to Rwanda, even though their journey might cost them their lives. The Israeli government appears to view Asylum seekers as infiltrators, leaving this most vulnerable population susceptible to continued oppression.

A few months after this post, over 1,000 Asylum Seekers were “voluntarily” deported to Rwanda. Since Rewanda never made any agreement with Israel, more than half of the Asylum Seekers lost their documents and passports. With no identification on them, they were more prone to kidnapping.

Early one morning, many Asylum Seekers received a text showing hundreds of Asylum Seekers in Rwanda being kidnapped by The Islamic State in Libya. Video’s of their gruesome torture by IS, went viral among the Asylum Seeker community. This sparked an outrage and many international organisations stepped in to put an end to the deportation.

Waly will still have to continue renewing his visa every couple of months and will continuously be held underneath the poverty line. But he said to me, “As long as I can stay in a place where I am safe, I am happy.”