Parastoo Theatre

Parastoo, which was founded by an Afghan refugee in Malaysia, has been holding theatre performances since 2017 to attempt to give a voice to the refugee community. It has also taken part in festivals and events. They want to raise awareness for the problems of refugees.

Ismail, one of the Afghan refugees who came to Malaysia, wants to create a connection between the theatre and reality when he is on stage. He performs in order to attract the attention of the audience to the harsh realities in his homeland and find a way to have a bond with the society he now lives with. He believes that theatre also gives people the ability to share their fears and frustrations with others who share the same emotions instead of fighting the problems silently. Many of the theatre members have lived through difficult times, had nothing, and had to fight to survive.

According to the United Nations refugee agency in Malaysia, there were more than 155,000 (155,880) registered refugees and asylum-seekers who were mainly Afghans but also from Myanmar, Pakistan and Syria, among other countries, as of March 2018. However, Malaysia does not give refugees protection and legal rights. The worst thing is that they are left alone to improve their desperate conditions since they cannot work legally or go to school. Saleh Sepas, who has been living under these circumstances, started Parastoo theatre as a consolation. He is a writer from Afghanistan that worked in theatre, radio and television and he has a drama that aired on BBC Radio. Saleh had advocated for women’s rights so he had to escape with his family from his country in 2016.

“These are the difficulties experienced by refugees every day and every moment,” he says. “It causes depression and a lack of self-confidence. They lose their sense of importance and capability.” To combat this, Saleh started Parastoo with some amateur actors from the refugee community. He wanted to stage plays for the public and create a dialogue between Malaysians and refugees.

The hope is to engage society through these performances. “We can highlight the problems of our people... And we want to create a new belief towards immigrants, that (we) can also do good,” he said. He adds, “Through theatre, we can draw attention to the situation in Afghanistan... and I’m very happy I can play a small role here, and I can, and will do it well, to the end.”