Episode four: If there is a God
Mozhgan and her friend Elina, from Sudan, have a disagreement about beliefs. When the future is impossible to see, faith can be a rock—or, it can shatter completely. Despite their argument, both of them are taking matters into their own hands, in their quest to cope.
“If there is something in this universe, if there is a God, then that God should have control over something like this.”
In a little room, at the back of a church, in a satellite city of Jakarta, Mehdi is losing himself in religion. He’s been denied refugee status and his wife and child have gone.
He’s afraid of getting arrested at any moment, but for his solace, the prayer garden is always open, 24 hours a day.
Nicole and Mozhgan visit Hope Learning Centre, one of many refugee-run initiatives where people are educating themselves and their children, who’ve never had a chance to go to school.
“I’m 11 years old and I’m here for six years, and Indonesian kids, they are calling me immigrant, immigrant. I don’t like them to call me... I just like them to call me my name.”
Sara Rezaei (12) and Marzia Yosufi (16) are Hazara and have lived in Indonesia since 2014.
Transcript
Full transcript here
In this episode
Mozhgan Moarefizadeh
Nicole Curby
Elina
Mehdi
Marziye Yousofi
Sara
Freydoon
Abdullah Sarwari
More information
The Wait was written and produced by Nicole Curby, and co-hosted by Mozhgan Moarefizadeh. Michael Green is the co-writer and supervising producer. Editorial support from Miles Martignoni at The Guardian Australia. Sound design and mixing by Bec Fary. Theme music by Emma Davis. Photo by Nicole Curby.
This project was supported by the Walkley Public Fund and a Judith Neilson Institute Freelance Grant for Asian Journalism.
Thank you
Tessa Rex, Gem Romuld, Trish Cameron, André Dao, Patrick Tumewu, Anita Halim and Ben Doherty.