We don’t belong to anywhere
Mozhgan is a tiny ball of fiery determination. Her friend Jafar is charming and playful. The pair met in Indonesia, and after five years, they have a close friendship that’s born out of shared experiences and tough times.
When Mozhgan and her family fled Iran they nearly drowned trying to get to Australia by boat. Now they’re stuck in Indonesia, living with no rights, and little hope of getting out. UNHCR has established that Jafar, Mozhgan and her family are genuine refugees but they're still just hanging on to life by a thread, with little hope of ever finding a home again.
Together they established The Refugee and Asylum Seeker Information Centre (RAIC), a volunteer refugee-led initiative to support asylum seekers who are struggling with the basics. There are almost 14 000 asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia and UNHCR is now informing them that they will probably never be resettled. So how do refugees and asylum seekers live in Indonesia, without rights or hopes for the future?
Finalist, UN Day Media Awards, 2018
Broadcast on ABC Radio National’s Earshot
With sound engineering by Russell Stapleton, and supervising producing Claudia Taranto
This half hour feature was the seed that grew into a much larger project.
Mozhgan and I continued documenting her life over two years, collaborating to make The Wait.