Well, back in my home country of Pakistan, I was a radio anchor, TV producer and theatre actor. Post 9/11 there were suddenly a lot of jobs for media people in Pakistan as there was heightened international interest in the region. I managed to land a job with CNN as a news producer and I was based in Afghanistan covering local happenings.

After my stint with CNN, I came back to Pakistan and started my own production company. Life was good and reasonably peaceful until the death threats started in 2006. Post 9/11 saw a rise in extremist Muslim movements in Pakistan and suddenly I was getting death threats because I am a Shi’ite Muslim and of the Hazara community. I decided to shift back to Afghanistan as the situation in Pakistan worsened. My family was still in Pakistan at the time though.

My tipping point came in 2013 when there was a massacre of about 200 individuals from the Hazara community in Quetta. It was then I decided that Pakistan was no longer safe for me and my family. I made the decision for all of us to leave.

When I first came to Hamilton in 2019, my first job was as a cross-cultural worker with Red Cross. Then I heard about ROC from some of my contacts and joined ROC as a road code interpreter in March 2019. At the same time, I was doing some work at the Maeroa Intermediate School as a teacher aide and I was undergoing my interpreter training in Decypher.

I love talking to people. I love that I have the freedom to talk to whomever I want to over here.