A Letter to Subud Seattle
from Stuart Cooke and Harris Roberts
Dear Friends, Brothers, and Sisters, how nice it is to be writing you.
A little over a year ago a new member, Ali Sharifi, a refugee from Afghanistan,
was opened here in Indonesia in the Pamulang group. (For those of you who don’t
know, Pamulang is a suburb of Jakarta (population 300,000), an hour from the Subud
compound in Cilandak. It’s where Bapak used to live with his extended family and
where Ibu Rahayu and other members now live inside a small estate where there’s a
large latihan hall outside the residential
quarters.)
The way it happened was that an Afghan
friend of Ali’s, Javad, a member in the
Pamulang group, used to give Ali rides on his
motorcycle from one part of Jakarta (population
11.5 million) to another where many refugees
hang out. On the way he would often stop to do latihan in Pamulang and Javad would
park Ali at a roadside food stall until he finished. Ali asked Javid where he went, but
he wouldn’t say. Ali asked again and again but got no answer. One day instead of
dropping him off, Javid drove him to the latihan space, a large Pendopo, and
proceeded to introduce him to Raymond Lee, Sharif Horthy
and Ridwan Louther—leaving it to them to explain where
Javid had been going. Three months later he was opened
(November 18, 2023) and he’s been doing latihan since.
Some members met him at the recent World Congress.
Ali’s been living in Indonesia for almost twelve years. 
He’s one of the 13,000 other Afghan refugees who live
here, if you can call it that, as they are not permitted to work and barely survive. They
live in over-crowded refugee camps with limited access to the camps’ food and
water. Ali worked illegally, doing mostly computer entry, sourcing products on the
internet, and writing up competitive pricing lists. (He has a fair command of English
and has picked up enough Indonesian to get by.) With the money he earned he could
pay a little to sleep on a friend’s floor, buy food, and pay for transportation. Two
years ago, a friend gave him an old motorcycle so now he only has to pay for gas and
repairs. But not long afterwards he had a motorcycle accident (all too common here)
which broke his collarbone. The doctors placed a metal pin in
his chest, which is now overdue for removal.
Just before he was hospitalized, he was able to obtain a
UNHCR card, proof of registration with the United Nations
Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. After being a
refugee all his life, at 45 years old, he finally had an I.D. 
Two years ago, the U.S. government did an incredible thing. It launched a
program for refugees called Welcome Corps, which enables refugees from
Afghanistan and many other countries to move to the U.S. and get a working Visa
like they did earlier in its history, but this time with a
range of services to make sure refugees prepared for life
in the United States, and which can eventually lead to
citizenship. No other country offers such a program.
Of primary concern, of course, is Ali’s spiritual life,
that he settles near a relatively large, stable, Subud group
with devoted members and helpers. In this way he can be
ably supported as he grows in Subud over the next several
years. After reviewing U.S. groups and testing, it seems that Seattle is the best place
for him.
To enter the Welcome Corps program five “sponsors” are needed, American
citizens who live in the same city, are willing to attend an online webinar about
refugees, and with one of them willing to pick him up at the airport when he arrives
and letting him sleep in their home (a living room floor is enough) for two or three
nights, introduce him to Seattle, showing him how to access public transportation,
and helping him find the places Welcome Corps has listed of where he can find
housing. Sponsors have no financial responsibility for the refugees. Nicely, Welcome
Corps has a Seattle office and supplies a range of acclimatization services, including
how and where to find employment, which refugees are expected to find within three
months of arrival.
Once Ali has been accepted into the program, it can take up to six months or
more before Ali can leave Indonesia. Timing varies and can’t be known in advance.
There’s a waiting list. It is urgent to get Ali registered in the program as soon as
possible because we don’t know what will happen after Trump takes office on
January 20. (A summary of the program can be found here:
https://www.state.gov/welcome-corps/ With more details here:
We are coordinating an international effort to raise the funds
needed for Ali to apply for the program plus his living and
medical expenses for the next 6 months. The total is about
$8,000, of which $2,425 is the Welcome Corps fee and $3,810
is for collar bone surgery to remove the pin. A few individual
members in Indonesia and overseas have been sending money
and will send more. Ruslan Moore donated $1500, for example.
(Details re his expenses are here:
https://alinewscontributions.blogspot.com/ At the same website we’ve posted a short
autobiographical essay Ali wrote two years ago. It gives a feeling of the kind of
person he is, the life he’s lead, the incredible adventure of how he escaped time and
time again from the Taliban, and a poem.)
Paul Nelson has already agreed to be a sponsor. Others who are interested should
send their names to Stuart at stuartyirui@gmail.com with your contact info. He will
contact you with more information and to answer any questions.
We cannot do much about the millions of refugees looking for homes in the
world, but together with our brothers and sisters, we can help one.
Love
Stuart and Harris
