Walk With Hussain

Walk With Me follows Hussain Shah Rezaie on his remarkable journey from a remote Afghan village to a refugee detention facility in Indonesia and finally, after nearly a decade in limbo, to a new life as a permanent resident of Aotearoa New Zealand.

A Refugee’s Story

The eldest of three children, Hussain dropped out of school aged 14 to support his mother and younger siblings following the mysterious disappearance of his father. At 16, he was captured and beaten by the Taliban and accused of a crime he did not commit. After making a harrowing escape, he was people-smuggled to Indonesia, where he spent almost a decade of his life in a series of refugee detention facilities, forbidden to access formal education or to seek paid employment.

Despite crushing boredom and the apparent hopelessness of his situation, Hussain refused to give in to despair. Instead, he embarked on an ambitious program of self-education, learning fluent English and studying subjects such as psychology and creative writing via free videos, courses, and ebooks that he accessed via wifi on an old mobile phone.

The Road to Freedom

In April 2021, Hussain sent an email to Professor Helen Sword at the University of Auckland, founder of the WriteSPACE virtual writing community. In imperfect but eloquent English, he wrote:

‘Writing has worked yet as a rescuer to the daunting difficulty of my life as a refugee. One of the thing that stand on my way to write is getting access to some high quality writing material, as well as, making connection with experienced and renowned writers for constructive feedback’.

Intrigued, Helen organised a WriteSPACE scholarship (paid for by a generous donor in Texas) and began mentoring Hussain online, drawing on other members of the WriteSPACE community to offer their time and expertise. Hussain seized every learning opportunity that came his way, experimenting with a range of genres – fiction, journalism, personal essays, poetry – and developing an ever more nuanced and expressive writing style.

In early 2022, Helen and her husband, started the uncertain process of sponsoring Hussain to immigrate to New Zealand under a government-sponsored pilot program called the Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship scheme. Hussain’s application for permanent residency was approved on October 4th, 2023.

The Way Forward

Hussain arrived in Auckland on November 29th, 2023 with no money, no formal educational qualifications, and virtually no possessions, aside from the donated laptop on which he has composed an ever-growing collection of short stories, personal essays, and poems. Some of these extraordinary pieces have already been published in international journals such as the Cincinnati Review and the Archipelago, where he volunteers as an assistant editor. He is preparing others for dissemination via his new Substack newsletter, Walk With Me.

Hussain aspires to become financially independent as soon as possible, ideally by finding work that will draw on his deep knowledge of refugee issues and his talents as a writer. His long-term dream has been to study psychology so that he can help other refugees survive and thrive. He is now well on his way to realising that dream – Hussain has successfully enrolled as an undergraduate student in psychology and communications at the University of Auckland, a major achievement and milestone in his life!

Abridged words from Helen Sword (Walk With Hussain, 2024) https://www.helensword.com/friends-of-hussain

Walk With Me

Raising Awareness

It was in the summer of 2023 that Hussain and Helen contacted me to discuss designing an identity that would represent Hussain and allow him to tell his story, as well as promote awareness and help raise vital funds in order to support him with his immigration plea.

At this point, Hussain was residing in an open shelter based in Tanjung Pinang on Bintan Island, and had been there since his release in 2018. ‘It was promoted as freedom – living less like a refugee, more like a normal human being. But the reality contradicted that promise when I saw the new, invisible walls that now enclose us’. (‘A refugee's journey to freedom’, Hussain Shah Rezaie, November 2023)

Residents were banned from venturing beyond the island and regulations were in place to limit movement outside the shelter to daylight hours only – violating this could result in being sent back to the detention centre for up to five months. They were deprived of the right to a formal education, work, marriage, driving, or even buying a SIM card in their own name, entirely undermining the concept of ‘freedom’. The impact of living like this led to a high number of refugees taking their own lives, and hundreds turning to sedatives to numb their pain.

It’s down to Hussain’s remarkable dedication to self-study that gave him the strength to keep fighting against the odds.

Crafting WWM

Following initial introductions, Hussain and I had a number of Zoom calls where we discussed many aspects of his circumstances, allowing me to gain an understanding of his background, what was important to him, and what he hoped to achieve with the logo design. While on the surface it could be considered trivial given his situation, it also represented hope and marked the possibility of a future different from the one he currently found himself in.

I looked to explore Hussain’s heritage, Hazara; an ethnic group and a principal component of Afghanistan’s population. It provided a source I was able to draw from but I was keen to only use it as a gentle acknowledgement rather than a direct link that might influence the design too heavily.

I wanted to involving Hussain in the development by sending thoughts and ideas and work-in-progress logos rather than finished designs, this way we could discuss what was working, allowing for a collaborative approach with Hussain’s input along the way.

I presented a number of different design routes, but one in particular instantly resonated with Hussain. I took the initials WWM (Walk With Me) and overlaid them centring the ‘M’ over the two ‘W’s’ to represent Hussain front and centre in the journey he was taking. I softened the type by stylising the letterforms so they looked less like latin characters but became more individualised unique shapes. The result was to form a strong and distinctive graphic that made me think about Afghanistan art and Arabic typography. Hussain concurred suggesting it had the typography of Persian heritage and that ‘it has an instant appeal. I love it!’ and on choosing the final design, going on to say ‘It better resembles a sense of adventure’.

The Hazaras are known for working embroidery on cotton or silk material enlivened by very fine lines of cross or herringbone stitch. Hazara embroidery tends to be a form of counted thread work rather than free style embroidery, and is generally very fine and precise. Besides the strong appeal of the graphic-like element of the designs, the colours in use instantly spoke to me as being clearly distinctive and ideal to form the basis of the colour palette in the identity. This was the perfect way to subtly include some of Hussain’s heritage without being too driven by it. By applying the colours I was able to distinguish the three initials and allow them to intertwine so they would weave in and out of each other.

Careful consideration was taken around the choice of font for the logotype. I was keen to marry something that would provide some personality while simultaneously allow the logo longevity. Filson Soft provides both aspects and works well in combination with the weight of the linework when set in the ‘book’. Serif font Freight Text Pro, known for its versatility and excellent use in text, was ideal as a secondary font for both headings and large blocks of copy.

Hussain’s response to the final design:

'Oh, I love this final design. I really love it. Thanks for being thoughtful yet integrating my heritage in it. With these three colour variations it has that subtle touch of my heritage and adds to its uniqueness. I cannot think of anything that would make it any better. It is perfect!'

See the design

Read Walk With Me on Substack