If you follow the link @ahmedztrad you will see “nothing”!
It is… Complicated…
A young Refugee in dire straits has just joined Steemit. He is struggling not for inspiration, his life story is already enough to write volumes. No, he is suffering from a Lack of Identity in every facet of the word, “identity”, and at every administrative level...
This is the story of a 19 year-old Lebanese man who took “a chance”…
He travelled the long road toward the freedom he was longing for
He believed he was a modern man, driven only by hope of a western-like future
He believed that a multi-cultural society, largely developed by migrants
- The Lucky Country -
would
Help him forget his deep fears of enforced radicalization -
the fear that made him flee
his beloved country
- The Lucky Country -
would
Embrace his youth, his hopes, his dreams
for a peaceful, solid future in a politically stable country.
All he wanted was to live a truly free western life,
work, finish his business degree, create a family
He was going to do what many other generations in the past had done successfully...
- Start a New Life in a New Country -
This young man’s dreams and hopes lasted a six-month dangerous voyage over land and seas, eastbound toward his dream country.
Until...
The frail boat ID LEL 006 was intercepted off Christmas Island, I believe (?)
Ahmed and his fellow hopefuls ended up being transferred to the Papua New Guinea; Manus Island OPC Detention Center.
is in TARAN
(his birth village back in Lebanon)
... Ahmed has recently been ... “deported” ...
from Papua New Guinea Manus Island
back to Lebanon…
And he sure is in need of sound advice and help from the community at large
where he is… Back In Lebanon
The Story
From his prison in PNG, Ahmed and I have been “carefully” connected digitally and remotely, for the last 2 years at least.
Politically, there were many stages of uncertainty as to the future of the refugees in PNG and Nauru, which we never discussed on chat, carefully so. I kept holding his hand, and we had hopes at different stages, different hopes at different times. Ahmed had told me his mother passed away while he was being detained. I became his remote Aussie Mum slowly? or rather quickly, in fact, within a few days of communication. I could feel his pain so deeply, Ahmad had entered my heart, it was as if I felt Ahmad’s Mother wanting to reach her son through me, to reassure him, to bring peace to his heart no matter what.
I gave Ahmad a deeply heartfelt digital Mother’s Hug, we talked all his night in PNG, interrupted at times, by silence… then the texts would come back with an apology (sorry Mum, guards were around). At various stages over the 4 years some Aussie Mums will remember; telephones were prohibited in the camps. I have held him close from that moment onward.
I have seen many PNG detainees addressing their own Aussie Mums on social media.
I know for a fact that some Aussie Mums have several adopted “refugee” children of their own they care for individually or in groups. I became silent on the Refugee Groups, I became the Mother fighting for her own son, as politics were changing and uncertainty was building stronger… I had to try my hardest to save if only but One of them, Ahmad how I knew him then to be, now he is Ahmed (?)
I know so little of my adopted digital son and it shows here. Communications were careful, but I know that he was on good terms with everybody there, even with some of the guards.
He helped his community there, those who were more distressed than he was, a group of fellow refugees, as best as he could through collective prayers and creating sport groups and being kind to all there and he was very caring to me and our family, inquiring about our welfare and good health; - always worrying that I may be working too hard on the farm, that i did not rest enough, and the like…
And the long awaited news finally came on May 6, 2017
I knew Ahmed was studying for a Degree in Business back in Lebanon… before he ran away from “politics” being the word we used often in our not-so-private online chats, in sentences such as: >I do not follow politics, i do not understand it much>.
This was also to keep Ahmed “safe” while his refugee status was being determined as well as to try to achieve a “cleaner online, non-militant, non-activist profile” in case we could sponsor Ahmad. We knew we would be carefully investigated by the authorities beforehand…
Now that Ahmed was FREE 😃 😃 😃 again after 4 long years of wasted youth, this man needed a thoroughly New Start, in one swift move… Join the burgeoning New Global Community and Economy and Opportunities and New Vision and New Security Online and, and, and...
Steemit was the Solution
As soon as I discovered that Ahmed was “free” again I pointed him to Steemit as a vehicle for his New Life.
No, I have not been posting much as much as I would like to. Time is always a struggle for me. Although, missing out on sleep I have been looking in awe, at all the possibilities blockchain technology offers; studying, reading, watching the birth of a dependable New social media. I have found again my enthusiasm for a better New World built on a free, uncensored, merit-driven community building platform.
for being the First Entity after to have accepted Ahmed “unconditionally”
and granted Ahmed at the same time, for the first time in 4 years…
❤️ His Birth Name... back ❤️
❤️ His Identity ❤️
Bilingual Arabic-English Speakers… Are you here?#
Ahmed has studied English, although I assume that he writes better in his native language, Arabic (eg: on his Facebook page) poorly translated by google translator, i am sure.
I have given up trying to read on his page, but I see that he has there a lot of people who react and comment back to his posts in Arabic. I assume that his writings are of value… You understand where I am going… huh ? Fellow Steemians 😉
hopefully in Lebanon, who can help Ahmed
find again his Identity and Steem ahead
Know that Ahmed is currently struggling with local needs and issues - getting Identity Papers being the first of his challenges. Without identity, one cannot do much, anywhere in the world, as we all know. Administration work means administration needs to get paid first and here come the challenges.
For Info: Your prison postal address names the Boat you arrived on…
This has been Ahmad’s Identity for 4 years:
Manus Island OPC
d-Transfield Services
Po Box 213
Lorengao Manus Province PNG
boat id LEL 006
name: ahmad yehia trad
Hope
I hope my shout out for help will resonate within the community at large. My fellow Steemians know that I plan to share this post on Facebook too, namely in the groups there who have been caring and helping the refugees held on both Manus Island and Nauru for several years already and still are…
Kudos ❤️
https://www.chuffed.org/project/urgent-legal-defence-for-manus-men
Ahmed’s Other and Particular Facts:
Ahmad’s Refugee Status ended up being assessed as “Negative”;
therefore, he was never to set foot onto the Australian continent - ever!
The Politics
As “politics" between Australia and PNG were being “sorted out”, the Manus Island Camps became “opened to the outside”.
Refugees could come in and out of the camps and roam free on the island. Australian authorities were encouraging the detainees to “make a life” for themselves, find a job, etc… in PNG! This is said to have been another tactic to rid Australia of its refugee problem and in line with the government’s policy, i.e.:
They will never set foot onto Australia, ever, even as a tourist>
Nationally, the movement "_Close_The_Camps_Bring_Them_Here" was making noises as these camps were becoming an international embarrassment as well as an expensive exercise for Australia.
In the mean time, back in PNG
From the now “opened " Manus Island Detention Center,
Ahmed went to Port Moresby for a while,
While waiting for appointments that were made for him (?)
And He would tell me >the person did not show up again, appointment pushed forward again>(?)
But for the first time in 4 years, Ahmed was finding there a delicious taste of “Life on the Outside”.
The "Politics” Choices
The choice was made clear! Ahmed and all the other refugees with the dreaded “Negative Status” had only two choices left:
1. Accept to be deported back to their country of origin and receive a “re-settlement help package” of $AUD 20K
(NB: Apparently this figure varied over time, 10K for a while, then back to 15K)
2. Refuse to be Deported and just “stay” in Papua New Guinea where the locals resent them strongly (and sometimes violently)
I am not exactly sure how Ahmed managed to get to Port Moresby, practically.
There was silence from him for a few weeks, as he was to make up his own mind on whether he was going to “accept” the - deportation deal - or wait and see what “other politics" could achieve there though the lawyers and alerted International Organizations.
Very suddenly News came again, Ahmed was being “detained” in Port Moresby, this time in a room Ahmed described as adjacent to the prison, but not really a “prison” (?)
I understand this is the time, also, while in the “room” that Ahmed was approached by an “officer” who had said:
>You will get $AUD 1,000.00 when you sign to accept the deportation and when you arrive in Lebanon, you will get $AUD 7,000.00>
Ahmed signed (apparently)
Here is the photo of Ahmad on the plane being deported back to Lebanon… I think that Ahmed was smiling because he was still hoping to collect his Deportee Resettlement Package upon landing in Lebanon. He had texted me from Port Moresby and this was the deal; he was to be handed AUD$1000 at departure, AUD$7000 at landing!
In shackles, having had to leave behind all of his meager material possessions slowly collected during his years of detention. Here are some of his clothes he is missing now. From only but one of the parcels he had received while in PNG.
The Situation as it stands now…
My Notes:
- I will have Ahmed read the above and give me the permission or not to Post this to my page. Hopefully if he agrees for me to go ahead, he will be able to share it on his brand new profile www.steemit.com/@ahmadztrad where there are no posts yet.
Update Saturday 10 June 2017:
- During last night, Ahmed and I connected again, I submitted this text with images to him for approval before I would post it. He gave me The Green Light...