Uncertain Journeys
As of March 2021, Indonesia was providing temporary shelter to more than 13,000 refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom had fled conflict in Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, and Myanmar. For thousands of them, Indonesia is not a destination but a place of indefinite waiting.
On August 30, 2021, I met Hasan (4th-photo), an Afghan refugee from Jaghori, Ghazni, who had spent more than six years living in a government shelter in Kalideres, West Jakarta. Alongside dozens of other refugees, he lived with limited access to water and electricity while waiting for the possibility of resettlement. Returning home, he told me, was not an option.
A different reality unfolded outside the UNHCR office in Central Jakarta, where Shara (6th-photo) and dozens of other refugees had been living in makeshift roadside tents for more than a year. Their presence was both a protest and a plea—for recognition, protection, and a future beyond uncertainty.
Unable to work legally and with only limited access to education and healthcare, many refugees remain trapped in prolonged uncertainty while waiting to be resettled in a third country.
