After a two year hiatus recovering from an injury, Wellingtonian and former-refugee Ali Mashal is back to chasing his dream of professional boxing.

Fighting for a future and his freedom, led 23-year-old former refugee Ali Mashal to boxing.

He dreams of representing NZ one day in the feather or lightweight class. The past two years have been a long and hard hiatus for him after a serious injury to his hand in a fight in 2020. These days, he's slowly training his way back to full fitness.

FOLLOW Voices on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Radio Public and iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Ali is from the long-persecuted Hazara community of Afghanistan. At a time where even going to school became dangerous, Ali was brought up home-schooled by his father, a teacher in the central province of Maidan Wardak. It's a region listed a high risk, with the Taliban active in most of its districts.

He left his town as a 15 year-old and travelled to India, onto Malaysia and eventually to Indonesia where he spent nearly five years in limbo a refugee camp. That's where he started boxing with a friend who knew a thing or two about Muay Thai and boxing - they became his route to a release.

Listen to Ali's full story on this week's Voices:

FOLLOW Voices on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Radio Public and iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details