For some, trip to games is hard one
Athletes expected to come from Iraq, Afghanistan
By sarah hollander Plain Dealer Reporter

Friday, June 18, 2004


For some young athletes, just getting to the International Children's Games in Cleveland this summer will be challenge enough.

Two brothers from Iraq, for example, must make a dangerous trek to Jordan for visas.

And eight girls from Afghanistan traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, for their visas. And because their country is red-flagged as a security concern, they may need another visa simply to transfer planes in London.

If successful, the children will represent their countries - post Saddam Hussein and Taliban - as cultural ambassadors, an original goal of the games.

A Yugoslavian professor who weathered World War II as a child organized the first International Children's Games in 1968. He hoped the games would promote peace, friendship and tolerance.

Nine European cities competed in track and field events in Slovenia at the first games. Since then, 24,000 children age 12-15 have participated, representing 200 cities in 50 countries and a growing list of sports.

Iraq and Afghanistan will join 21 other countries planning to make their first appearances in the games.

Cleveland will be the first American city to be host.

The games open July 28 and run through Aug. 2. Organizers expect to attract about 3,000 athletes and coaches.

A native Iraqi who now lives in the Cleveland area hopes his relatives in Baghdad will be part of that group. Two of his second cousins - brothers aged 12 and 14 - hope to come to the games with their father, who trains them in track and field events.

"We're doing as much as we can to make sure they can come," games program director Carol Payto said. She declined to give the names of the Iraqis and their American relative, citing security concerns.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland has offered to donate Continental tickets for the trio.

But first, they will need to travel to Amsterdam, the closest airport served by the airline.

The Afghan group includes eight girls from Kabul - ages 12, 13 and 14.

The girls traveled to Pakistan for their visas because the United States doesn't issue them in Kabul.

American Airlines has donated free domestic flights for the Afghan delegation. The group plans to spend about a month in the States, starting in early July.

They will land in New York, then travel to the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange training camp in Simsbury, Conn., before arriving in Cleveland.

The girls will become the first group to participate in the exchange, a program developed by 24-year-old Awista Ayub.

"I consider it an extension of myself," she said.

Born in Kabul, Ayub arrived in America as a baby when her family fled Afghanistan to escape war with the Soviet Union.

She grew up playing sports and founded the women's ice hockey team while an undergraduate at the University of Rochester.

"Sports have been very integral to my life," she said.

They teach self-confidence, perseverance, teamwork and many other practical skills, she said.

The Afghan Communicator, a grass-roots advocacy organization, sponsors the exchange. The organization heard about the International Children's Games and sent information to Ayub.

The girls were selected by one of Ayub's contacts in Kabul who runs a leadership program that prepares women to vote and get jobs.

"Our ultimate goal is for them to go back and become leaders in their communities," Ayub said.

First things first, though.

The girls will need to learn to play soccer, the sport in which they will compete at the games.

Once they arrive in Connecticut, Ayub and community volunteers will explain the rules of the game and coach the girls for three weeks.

Ayub said she picked soccer because it's relatively cheap and easy to find a playing field - from a patch of dirt or grass to an indoor arena.

"All you really need are sneakers and a ball," she said.