LUMEN Summer 2020 - Flipbook - Page 14
“The Sudanese civil war between North Sudan
and South Sudan was the longest civil war
in history.
“One million people died and nearly 10 million
were displaced. The forced conscription aspect of
it was so rudimentary that, in a way it was pretty
much: here's a rifle, shoot that way,” he said.
Mujahid was forced to train with little rations
and trek across the hot desert, with temperatures
above 50 degrees. He suffered multiple injuries
during combat, including a rifle shot grazing
his right arm and shattering the bones in his left
arm as he tried to scale a wall. He used shoelaces
and newspaper to form a cast as medical care
was scarce.
While his family thought he was in Australia
studying, he was laying in a makeshift hospital in
Sudan. By chance, his uncle came across him and
was able to bribe officials with his Rolex. Mujahid
escaped on a cargo plane.
“I went back to the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
to get cleaned up, with two steel rods inserted
to hold my arm together, then I started my
first semester of my Bachelor of Science at the
University of Adelaide,” he said.
Quick to downplay his time in the camp, Mujahid
said he was better off than many others.
“I don't consider my ordeal a tale of heroism,
there's plenty of others that didn't get back. So,
I never recount the tale with any sort of pride or
joy. I think of everyone else.”
Born in Sudan, Mujahid and his family moved
to the UAE when he was young because his
father, a journalist, suffered persecution and was
frequently arbitrarily arrested before they left.
Mujahid wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps
and become a journalist. However, his parents
didn’t want him to go through what they did, as
they felt journalism wasn’t a financially secure
career, and encouraged Mujahid to become a
doctor instead.
“My parents had this massive dream that I was
going to be a doctor, which is a typical African
mentality where boys are either doctors or
engineers, and girls are either nurses, dentists or
teachers. It's pretty much pre-ordained in a way,”
he said.
After escaping Sudan, Mujahid settled into his
studies quickly at the University of Adelaide,
with the intention of applying for postgraduate
medicine after completing his studies.
But plans to transfer to medical school went out
the window when Mujahid realised he was more
passionate about psychology, and its ability to
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
heal people. He took a break from studying before
starting his honours so he could earn money
to support his family. Working part-time as a
community health worker for young refugees
including torture and trauma survivors, Mujahid
knew early on this was the right path for him.
“They say sometimes you're in a job, sometimes
you're in a career. When you're in a job there's too
much time, when you're in a career there's never
enough time,” he said.
Mujahid’s work with refugees has taken him to
Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru,
where he has worked as a torture and trauma
counsellor with refugees and asylum seekers held
in offshore immigration detention.
“I saw clients from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq,
Iran, and Somalia, who had all arrived by boat.
And while they were from a diverse range of
cultures and backgrounds, the one thing they
had in common was that they were all genuinely
fleeing persecution.
“All I could do was to equip them with skills and
emotional armour to be able to cope with being
there because I could not fix their situation.”
With such a mentally draining job, Mujahid
turned his attention to stand-up comedy as an
outlet. He started his career in 2005 by competing
in the annual Raw Comedy competition.
His first show did not go as planned.
“It was terrible. Nearly as traumatic as the war in
a way, I could almost hear someone cough next
door because it was so quiet,” he said.
His stubborn streak didn’t let him give up. He
went home, wrote as many jokes as he could and
tested them on his friends and work colleagues.
Second time around, he received critical acclaim,
and soon after he was invited to appear on Enough
Rope with Andrew Denton, an ABC Stateline
special, and became a regular guest on ABC 891.
Mujahid’s humour draws on his own experiences
and work with refugees to bring about social
change. Comedy has taken him all over the world
and led to the opportunity to be a TEDx talk
keynote speaker.
While Mujahid still performs when he can, he is
also working towards his Masters to become a
clinical psychologist.
“I feel privileged. Every client I’ve worked with
shares something with me that they wouldn't
normally share with anyone else. I see little sparks
of hope, their tenacity and resilience. Quite often,
seeing them months or years later, they've done
better and I take pride in knowing that I made a
tiny contribution to where they are now.”
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Mujahid Ahmed
