FREEDOM STREET DOCUMENTARY
Joniad is a stateless Rohingyan refugee. He was born in 1993 and he has been stuck in Indonesia since 2013. Having started studies in Engineering with great promise in Myanmar, Joniad was forced to abandon his chosen career path and flee into exile. His journey has taken him to Bangladesh, India, China, Thailand, Malaysia before eventually ending up in Indonesia.
He has since become professional journalist, a student of political science as well as a writer and human rights activist with international support from many followers. He is contributing to the production of this documentary as well as publishing accounts of the refugees as he joins the search for a safe and durable solution for Refugees in Indonesia and everywhere.
Azizah is a stateless Refugee. She was born in Malaysia in 2001 and She has been stuck in Indonesia since 2012. Azizah has always grown up in a complex domestic environment, leaving her and her younger brother fending for themselves for most of her life. Growing up as a young woman, she has survived many life's challenges including mental health, sexual & physical harassment and exploitation.
Despite all that, she manages to continue her studies in refugee run schools, as well as finding her community of friends, and manages to almost completely immerse herself in the Indonesian community. As well as being the caretaker of the family. Now living as a mother to her own son. She's a more determined than ever ambitious girl who loves to read and inspire other women to do better and to stand up for their rights
Ashfaq is a Pakistani Refugee. He was born in 1997 and He has been stuck in Indonesia since 2013. Being a member of Shia Muslim minority in Pakistan, his family and his community faces constant target attacks, and persecutions both from the Taliban and the Sunni majority government.
As the hope of the family, Ashfaq was sent to escape from Pakistan to Indonesia at the age of 16; in search of protection so that one day, he and his family can live in peace and stability. The entire family has put the faith into him, though he is stuck in limbo. But this experience has beaten him down to the bone and he is suffering mentally as a result, there's no end in sight for this situation. Ashfaq dearly misses his family, and would love to see them again if he can.