2014-07-04
Bruce Knobloch
Soccer (call it football if you like!) has kept Masih hopeful through some terrifying and painful times. However now things are looking up.
Masih plays semi-pro for Rydalmere Lions FC in the NSW state league. That means training four or five nights a week. As well, he's now enrolled in FC11 — the Diploma of Football, a new course with TAFE — studying and training four days a week at state-of-the-art facilities in Redfern. His body hurts from all that training and he's constantly monitored for diet and health, but he says it's worth it.
Masih gives himself Friday off to recover, plays for the Lions one day of the weekend and works the other day in a carwash to supplement his Youth Allowance. “I work 8 am to 6 pm without a break for just $65.70. It's not fair. I speak four languages and I should be able to get a better job.” He's looking for a job that pays legal Award wages. He hopes someone reading this may be able to help.
I asked Masih why he came to Australia. He explained his father was a fuel engineer who was threatened by Taliban soldiers when he refused to allow bad fuel into the country. They attacked his family house and offered a bounty for his dad's capture. His whole family had to escape in a hurry. He was just 12 when he and his uncle began their journey to Australia. Meanwhile his mum, dad, brothers and sisters escaped to a refugee camp in Pakistan. Masih had no idea he wouldn't see his family again.
Why Australia? I asked, "Only because my family heard it was a place where people supported asylum seekers. We knew nothing about Australia."
If my life wasn't in danger — and my dad's life wasn't in danger — I wouldn't have stayed in prison in Indonesia and Australia. I wouldn't have lost my uncle. I just want people to understand us.”
However Masih's journey to Australia from Indonesia was a disaster. Their boat sank in heavy seas. His uncle drowned. He was one of four who survived of the 22 who set out. He survived by hanging on to wreckage for 16 hours overnight. He had never seen the sea before. “I didn't know that sea water was salty,” he says.
Indonesian fishermen rescued him. “The fishermen tried to find fish, but they found us.” Next he was put in a refugee prison. The four survivors were badly beaten by police and only taken to hospital after two days. Then for two years he was in a crowded prison with 25 others. Three times they went on hunger strike to be released, but only when a friend paid a bribe to an official did he get out. He was not allowed to speak to his family during this time. “My family thought I was dead.”
He had no choice but to get on another boat and this time he made it to Christmas Island. It took a month, eating the same food — Mee Goreng — every day. “I knew my family were waiting for me. That's the reason why I didn't give up.” He spent more than a year in Australian detention in Darwin and in hospital. There he met a refugee supporter, Pamela Curr. She campaigned for his release.
Masih knows some people think conditions are OK in Australia's refugee prisons, and he says the food is OK, better than for most people in Afghanistan. However he explains: “If you have a bird in a golden cage with good food, the bird still doesn't feel good. Freedom is more than good food.”
Eventually he was placed in community detention in Melbourne. When finally he was recognised as a refugee he moved to Sydney. At last he could start his life again: play soccer and help his family.
He quickly got a contract with Parramatta Eagles FC. He was one of two people chosen out of 70 try-outs after a month-long trial. However another disaster struck. In a game with friends his leg was badly broken in a rough tackle. His dream faded again.
Two years and three operations later his leg is healed — and while he worries about reinjuring it, he's not in any pain. Fortunately during this time Pamela found him a new home in Sydney with a Greens member who was willing to help. Masih says she saved him because while his leg was still healing he was depressed. He was living in a homeless refuge, struggling to survive. “She changed my life. Now I knew I had someone in Australia, a family who would always care about me. Her family did everything for me; everything!”
Masih knows he's changed the thinking of some local-born Australians just by meeting him, including some of his team members, who'd never met a refugee — or an Afghan person — before. He gets upset when he meets people who are racist or think he might be dangerous, but he's met a lot of good people too.
Masih's message to other people in Australia is simple: “We are the same people as you. We are human beings. If my life wasn't in danger — and my dad's life wasn't in danger — I wouldn't have stayed in prison in Indonesia and Australia. I wouldn't have lost my uncle. I just want people to understand us.”
I asked Masih about his greatest hope. “Actually I have two: to play for Australia in a World Cup and to see my family again. As soon as I can, I want to bring them to safety in Australia.” He's saving up now to visit them at the end of the year and citizenship next year makes family reunion here possible. As well, Rydalmere Lions FC will take him to Malaysia and Singapore to try out in that league. It looks like Masih is on his way to both his dreams.
Bruce Knobloch is a member of the Petersham Newtown Greens and works for the Australian Services Union.