Reported by: Kim Wheeler
POSTED: Saturday, July
17, 2004 4:46:36 PM
SIMSBURY, Connecticut -- History will be made at the International Children’s Games in Cleveland when the first team from Afghanistan will compete.
The all-girl team has lived through war and the Taliban regime. Some of them shared their personal stories of survival and hope.
Until recently the girls would not have been able leave their country. The change is a testament to how much has changed in Afghanistan.
In many cases they weren’t allowed to leave their homes even for school. They couldn’t even laugh out loud in public.
Khatera, 12, is one of nine children and lives in Kabul.
She talked about what Afghanistan is like now.
“In Afghanistan a lot of children [are] kidnapped,” she said. “My father’s best friend’s son was kidnapped.”
The girls were brought to the U.S. through the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange.
And by it’s founder, Awista Ayub who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan with her family at the age of two.
Ayub says she wanted to empower the girls.
“They do see [a] promising future in Afghanistan,” said Ayub. “And [I] do think these girls will be leaders and take the country in right direction.”
The girls train and live at the Ethel Walker School, a boarding school for girls in Connecticut.
The athletes are getting a chance to experience America, which they say is very different from their life in Afghanistan.
Arizule, 12, started selling paper on the street at age six to feed her family.
Until recently she wasn’t allowed to go to school. Now, she is in America playing soccer.