"The darkest side of life, and the brightest... I have seen both."

At the age of 25, Ali Reza Yawari has seen a very great deal of life

Three weeks after he was forced to flee his native Afghanistan at the age of 15, Ali found himself isolated and alone in Indonesia, a country he couldn’t previously have found on a map. He has now been in Indonesia for ten years, and his citizenship status is still unresolved.From his earliest days in a detention facility, Ali recognised that he and the people around him needed a reason to wake up in the mornings. The children needed something to do, and the adults needed to learn, to teach, to communicate, to tell stories and be in community with those around them. And so, slowly, gathering people who could help and mustering whatever small resources were available to him, he began to build something. What started with language classes to help his friends to communicate with camp guards has grown into an initiative that supports and empowers young people whose lives have been turned upside down by displacement.

I was privileged to meet Ali at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in October last year, and to hear him read from his beautiful collection of prose and poetry, Lost in the Calm, in which he reflects on some of his experiences as a refugee.For this interview, I flew from our home in Bali to the bustling capital, Jakarta. Please enjoy this conversation with the wonderful Ali Reza Yawari.

And I’d love to hear from you too!

Meeting and talking with Ali has inspired me to action, and I hope it might inspire you too. From today until World Refugee Day on June 20th, I’ll be working on a project to raise awareness of the situation of people like Ali, whose strength, courage and kindness should be seen as an example to us all.If anything in this episode has inspired you, or if you’d like to know more about the project, I’d love to hear from you. Please drop a note in the comments or send me a message.And please squeeze the little heart below! I’ll be sure to pass on the love to Ali and his beautiful community.

With love,Michelle x

MUSIC: Defining Life, by Bill Conn

PHOTOGRAPHY: Michelle Neeling

Written and produced by Michelle Neeling

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