Saturday, July 25, 2020
Nadia Nadim
Nadia Nadim
is a remarkable person. Her life changed dramatically twenty years
ago, when she was twelve.
Her family
lived in Kabul, in Afghanistan. Her father was a general in the
Afghan army, and also an athlete. He had once been a member of his
country's field hockey team.
But their
lives had changed dramatically when the Taliban had taken over Kabul.
No longer were women allowed to attend school. When they left home,
they had to be escorted, and completely covered. If one of their
hands became visible, that might lead to immediate punishment,
possibly having it severed.
Her father
left in a ministry vehicle to attend a meeting. And that was the last
she ever saw of him. Her mother quickly realized their fate, sold all
of their possessions, and managed to flee with her family to Karachi,
Pakistan. She arranged to get forged passports for herself and her
children, and a flight to Milan, Italy. Transport was arranged for
them to go to London.
When they
got out of the truck, they discovered that they were in Denmark, not
London, and were shuffled off to a centre for asylum seekers. There
were refugees from many other nations: Somalia, Syria, Congo, Iraq,
Armenia, and Russia, to name a few. They were later moved to another
refugee camp at Aalborg. They then received a special letter,
indicating that they were permitted to stay in Denmark.
I will leave
it up to you to consider the amounts of money that her mother had to
pay to bribe the authorities to get to Denmark, as well as the
unsavoury types that she had to deal with. Essentially, that is part
of the plight of a refugee.
It was then
that Nadia discovered she had athletic talent, specifically on the
soccer pitch. While playing with other children, she showed that she
was able to play above her age level, always aggressive, never
satisfied with average play.
A few years
later, she managed to gain a spot on the junior team for her adopted
nation. And when she turned 18, and had become a naturalized citizen,
she joined the ranks of the best players in Denmark.
She signed
with other teams in Europe, including Manchester. She currently plays
for Paris Saint-Germain, and is paid accordingly, the second largest
amount of any woman soccer player in the world.
The struggle
though the ranks was not easy for her. “Basically, you are always
going to be seen as an outsider”.
She
continues her medical studies at this time. She is a champion for
Girls' and Women's education in the world, and does charitable work
as an ambassador for UNESCO. “When everything is stripped away,
what we have left is compassion and kindness. As a human, it is our
ability to understand the suffering of other human beings”. She can
speak eleven languages, to make a point.
“No one
volutarily leaves their homes-their houses and their friends, and
their loved ones. They are forced to do that. Some are literally
fleeing war,” she commented on the life of the refugee.
She
sympathizes with the movements in the world today. “ I love seeing
people out on the streets, raising their fists, battling racial
injustice. But there is another humanitarian crisis in the world that
I want to make sure we don't forget.”
Indeed, a
remarkable woman.
# posted by James Hurst @ 8:42 AM 
