Simple pleasures help define the American experience

by Amy Reardon
Staff Writer

July 14, 2004


J. Adam Fenster/The Gazette

Shamila Abdul Wakil, 16, Hanifa Fazil Mohammad, 11, Khatera Mohammad Zahir, 12, and Yasamin Ghulam Rasoul, 14, are among eight girls on the Afghan soccer team, which will participate in the International Children's Games in August. The girls stayed at Barbara and Duaine Goodno's home in North Potomac for two weeks before heading to Connecticut to train for the games.

 

 

Afghan girls visit North Potomac home

A group of Afghan soccer players received a crash course in American culture for two weeks as a North Potomac couple opened their home to the girls.

The girls, who came to the United States to attend a soccer camp and to participate in the International Childrenís Games, spent their two weeks shopping, sightseeing and meeting U.S. dignitaries.

But some, like 12-year-old Khatera Mohammad Zahir, delighted in the more simple freedoms available during their visit.

Zahir, who like all of the girls spoke through a mixture of broken English, hand signals and help from a translator, was especially excited about riding a bicycle, an activity prohibited for women under the Afghanistan's former Taliban government.

Many of the girls had never ridden a bicycle prior to this trip, although Shamila Abdul Wakil said her parents allow her to ride in their yard at home.

Wakil, 16, who was excited to ride freely on the streets in the United States, noted that women had been forbidden to ride bikes or drive cars in Afghanistan.

Host Barbara Goodno said having eight bike-riding adolescent and teenaged girls living with her reminded her of life when her children were young and had friends over all the time: Life was exhausting, but fun.

"You can tell they've been here by the piles of clothes and shoes on the deck," Goodno said last week while the girls, ages 11 to 16, were out shopping. "It's been hectic, but nice to have a full house again."

The girls came to the U.S. with the help of Goodno's husband Duaine, who is currently in Kabul, Afghanistan, running the Afghan Center, a California-based humanitarian organization that provides general and vocational education to Afghan women.

Duaine Goodno worked with Afghan Youth Sports Exchange (AYSE), a Connecticut nonprofit organization that aims to build Afghan women's confidence through athletic participation.

Duaine Goodno wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette that he chose the eight participants for the seven-week exchange program from the girls' youth leadership program at the center. He based his decision on their interest, English proficiency, and leadership skills.

"I hope the program will give them confidence and provide future opportunities," Goodno wrote in the e-mail to The Gazette. "The trip will aid their English language development, which will help them in school and open additional opportunities to them."

The AYSE program was founded this past fall by 24-year-old Awista Ayub, who immigrated with her family to the United States from Afghanistan in the mid-1980s. A female athlete who played tennis and ice hockey, Ayub was inspired to help people in Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Sports, she said, is a positive means to increase women's confidence, which can lead to higher academic success. Ayub, who majored in chemistry, wrote a thesis paper in college about women who play sports and their tendency to perform better in math and science. Her research inspired the program.

"Women who succeed on the field become doctors, lawyers, scientists and teachers," Ayub said. "Playing sports increases women's self esteem and perseverance."

While at camp in Connecticut, the girls will practice soccer and attend leadership sessions during which they will discuss how to set up soccer teams and games at their schools in Afghanistan.

Ayub and Goodno met each other through a mutual contact at the U.S. State Department and began discussing the possibility of bringing the girls to the U.S. last fall.

"She [Ayub] had the program and Duaine had the girls," Barbara Goodno said.

The pair had to clear several hurdles, including obtaining visas and raising money, to bring the girls to the United States. The Goodnos paid for the girls' travel expenses to and from the states, which cost $14,400, anticipating that future fund-raising at the Afghan Center could help defray the cost, and American Airlines covered the cost of the domestic flights, approximately $6,000.

A network of small businesses and individuals in Northern Virginia, Maryland, New York and Connecticut have donated soccer equipment, clothing and other supplies worth an estimated $6,000 to the girls during their stay and the coaches at the clinic are volunteering for the program. The International Children's Games, which is sponsored by the International Olympic Committee, does not traditionally sponsor teams, but decided to waive the entrance fee and boarding costs for the Afghan soccer team.

The girls are the first representatives from Afghanistan to participate in the games, according to a letter to Ayub from the Shelly Sweedler, executive director of the 2004 International Children's Games.

The girls left for Connecticut on July 7 to prepare for the International Childrenís Games, which take place July 29 to Aug. 2 in Cleveland.

Ayub said she hopes this trip is the first of many and plans to follow the girls' progress once they return to Afghanistan. Ultimately, she said she would like to see these eight girls teach others about soccer and start teams of their own at home.