Jon, a young man who entered our Home in 2008 has recently written to us from the United States. He is currently studying at Regis University and recently graduated from his Pre-Medicine Programme. This following is Jon’s story.

Jon was born in Afghanistan to loving parents. His dad was a dentist and used to work with MCI. Life took a huge turn for the worse when his village was attacked. In the midst of the attack, his father was never found.

Jon had to flee because he was beaten and treated very poorly. He fled to Pakistan for a month and eventually came to our Malaysian shores. Alone in our country, Jon registered with UNHCR to get himself settled in a peaceful place as he was staying with a group of older men. UNHCR felt that he was in danger (And Jon claimed that it was indeed dangerous), and so they then settled him into our Home at SHELTER.

During his stay at SHELTER, he was homeschooled by an English teacher, Dawn Teh,  who volunteered in SHELTER and wanted to help Jon. Jon is really thankful to her because he is what he is today partly because of her effort those days. When he left SHELTER, she even extended her house for him to stay in and he continued schooling under her, finishing grade 8 to 11 in two years. When UNHCR settled him in Colorado USA in December 2010, he went to the local high school and obtained a High School Diploma. When he was in high school, he was already applying for a scholarship and taking all the standardized tests.

He was accepted in all the places that he had applied for and he took up the offer by Regis University. He plans currently is to finish his B.S in Biology and then perhaps apply to a Medical School. He wishes to become either an Obstetrician or a Gynaecologist (OB/GYN). His plans to visit Malaysia one day and hopefully do something for us at SHELTER.

 (Jon with his graduation speech, he was selected as class valedictorian)

(Jon at a scholarship luncheon at Denver)

(Jon on the way up to USA’s highest paved road at Estes Park) 

(Jon at the centre sitting having a retreat with his university friends at Rocky Mountain National Park)