The Canberra community is rallying to support the family of a local nurse killed in a car accident in Western Australia, more than a decade after he had fled the Taliban in Afghanistan as a teenager.
Tahir Ali Ahmadi, 26, was killed in a car accident on July 26 near Meekatharra in remote Western Australia, enroute to a locum placement in Port Headland.
He had studied nursing at the Australian Catholic University in Canberra and secured his first job as a nurse at Calvary John James Hospital.
Friends said the young man had been accepted to study medicine and he had chosen to work in Port Headland to broaden his experience. It's believed the Landcruiser he was driving had rolled multiple times.
A memorial was held for Tahir in Canberra this week.
Tahir had been a member of the Hazaras in Afghanistan, a group persecuted by the Taliban. After his father was killed, the then 14-year-old fled with his family across the border to Pakistan.
His mother and three siblings remained in Pakistan while Tahir continued on to Australia to seek asylum, eventually arriving by boat via Indonesia as an unaccompanied minor.
Tahir studied at Holroyd High School in Greystanes in western Sydney, a school renowned for taking in refugees. He then enrolled in the nursing degree at the Australian Catholic University and started working as a nurse in Canberra in 2018.
His friends from Canberra Refugee Support have started a GoFundMe page to help cover the expenses of his funeral in Perth and to provide some support to his family in Pakistan. Tahir had been financially supporting his mother and three siblings.
Tahir was described as someone who was sincere and generous and "always had a cheeky sparkle in his eye" whose death had left "a huge hole in so many hearts".
"Tahir was such a joy in so many of our lives. He had a difficult journey from Afghanistan and faced more challenges than any child should to find a place of safety and opportunity," the GoFundMe page read.
"But Tahir's determination to build a better life and be able to support his beloved family fuelled him and he achieved incredible things."
The link to donate is here.
