Stuck in Indonesia after Australia ‘Stops the Boats’, a group of refugees start a school and prove that hope, community and connection can change the world.
Ten years ago Muzafar Ali and his wife Nagina escaped the Taliban in Afghanistan. They found themselves living in Indonesia as refugees when Australia ‘stopped the boats’. Determined to do something, they started a small two room school, which soon became the hub of a community and the most successful refugee-led initiative in the world.
We Are Not Powerless tells the story of what can happen when a community refuses to give in and work together for hope, love, and education.
Muzafar Ali
When a small group of refugees, led by the women, defied authorities to start the first refugee-led school, they transformed their community. Today there are over 2000 refugees getting an education in Indonesia and these schools have been called “the greatest pre-resettlement program in the world.”
In 2024 we will follow one of the co-founders of the original school, Muzafar Ali, as he returns to Indonesia for an incredible three-week community event. Former-refugee managers of the school arrive, resettled former students sit with their old classmates who are still living as refugees and supporters and friends travel from Australia, Hong Kong, Toronto and New Zealand. The entire community come together to create a one-of-a-kind event to celebrate the ten year anniversary which included over 500 people. You will be astounded at what they have achieved.
DURATION: 95 MINUTES
Issue area
The refugees at the centre of this story provide the human antidote to the cold bureaucracy of Australia’s ten-year-old offshore detention policy. Recent news reports have shown that hundreds of millions of dollars were given to corrupt contractors in the name of ‘offshore detention’. In stark contrast, We Are Not Powerless tells the story of a small group of refugees who used $200 to create a refugee-led education movement which now supports the education of over 2000 refugees. At the same time they provided a platform for disaffected Australians to connect on a human level with the refugees our government has excluded.
Ten years ago the 14,000 refugees in Indonesia were considered insignificant in the face of 25 million refugees globally and were excluded from the conversation. Today they are leaders and their voice is central to discussions at the Global Refugee Forum, Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and at academic and policy forums and conferences. They have inspired other refugee-led initiatives around the world and “refugee-led” approaches are increasingly adopted by academics, institutions, agencies, charities and NGOs.
New approaches to refugee policy are developing, and refugees are being seen as potentially capable and contributing members of society. We Are Not Powerless will be watched by international organisations including the United Nations, the World Bank, UNHCR, International Office of Migration and hundreds of refugee advocacy groups around the world and aims to help accelerate this process.
Systemic change and greater positive outcomes with refugee policy internationally.
We have been intimately engaged with the community or over the years. Co-director Muzafar Ali was living as a refugee when he co-founded the first refugee-led school in Indonesia.
We aim to increase refugee inclusion across all areas of refugee policy.
Muzafar is a former refugee and highly-regarded human rights activist and photographer. Between 2004-2011 he worked for the United Nations in Afghanistan and in 2014, while living as a refugee in Indonesia, he started the first refugee-led school. He was resettled to Australia in 2015 and since then he’s advocated for refugees in Australia and around the world. He is the 2022 Fred Hollows Humanitarian of the year, Patron of the Rural Australians for Refugees, Board Member of the Jesuit Refugee Service and has exhibited his photographs in Afghanistan, the Republic of Korea, USA, UK, Canada, the Netherlands and Australia. He worked as a cultural consultant on Windmill Theatre’s Amphibian (2020) and the Cate Blanchett TV mini series Stateless (2020) and produced and featured in documentaries The Staging Post (2017) and Watandar, My Countryman (2022).
Jolyon Hoff returned to Australia in 2020 after spending the last 15 years living and working in Nigeria, Indonesia, Nepal, and Washington DC. He is committed to telling stories which bring the developing and developed worlds together. Previous projects include; Watandar, My Countryman (Adelaide Film Festival 2022, Finalist Screen Producers Australia Feature Documentary Of The Year), The Staging Post (Highly Commended for ‘Best Stand-Alone Documentary’ the Australian Directors’ Guild 2018), Searching For Michael Peterson (Finalist Best Feature Documentary IF Awards & St Kilda Film Festival 2009) and Aceh – Ten Years After the Tsunami for USAID, now on permanent display at the Aceh Tsunami Museum.
16/10/2025
We Are Not Powerless has been completed and is about to have its premiere screening at Adelaide Film Festival. We are developing our festival release strategy and cinema release plan for 2026.
11/12/2024
We completed filming the ten year anniversary in Indonesia in August and have concluded the bulk of principal photography. We’re now in the early stages of post-production and have received a $45,000 philanthropic donation from Shark Island Foundation to help progress the edit.
View more information here
$160,000
FUNDING GOAL$46,700
FUNDS RAISED1st October 2025
PROJECT ENDS12
SUPPORTERS
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