From Afghanistan to the NYC Marathon: Zahra's Story
Zahra, a Free to Run alumni and former Community Development Leader in Afghanistan, is running the New York City Marathon in November in support of the organization. This is her story…
When the Taliban established their first government in Afghanistan, I was three years old. I recall the day they came into a football field and took my father with them. I was a child watching from a distance, but I understood they were the most dangerous thing I had ever encountered. I rushed home and informed my mother that my father had been arrested.. From what I remember, the Taliban wanted money for my father's release. So we sold all we had in order to save my father from prison and he was eventually released. He was not, however, the same man he had been before the arrest. There were scars all over his body, and he lost both of his legs as a result of the beatings. Today, I am most concerned about him and the rest of my family.
We moved to Pakistan after my father was released, we started life from zero. I was afraid to live a life that was meaningless, yet that fear drove me to work hard in class. My studies paid off. In 2009, I earned the highest score on the Kankor exam in my high school and was accepted to study economics at Kabul University. After graduation I was hired as a procurement clerk on a big development project. That experience helped me land a job as a finance specialist at the Agricultural Development Fund where I tracked daily transactions and managed a $100,000,000 budget.
To fight the taboos that prevent girls from fulfilling their dreams I joined the Border Free Bicycle Club. When I joined this group at the age of 24, my neighbors informed my family that a girl of my age should not be permitted to ride a bicycle, and that I was old enough to marry. My mother was upset, but I convinced her, and I began riding bicycles. It was difficult to learn at that age, but learning new things has always motivated me. Although we faced harassment and criticism, it only encouraged me to continue and to prove them wrong. When I saw changes in my community, and that many girls were riding bicycles, I knew that I helped to create those changes.
In 2018, I was introduced to Free to Run with the support of one of my friends, Fatima. She inspired me to join the team since she seemed so happy after every morning run. I joined them because we could discuss our concerns as women and encourage other women to participate in sports. We started off as a five-person team, but by 2019 we had grown to ten, and by 2020 we had grown to 30, and the team continued to grow from there. In addition to Free to Run, I joined She Can Tri in 2019 and participated in a half ironman race in Dubai in February 2020, a sport that no other Afghan woman had tried before. I also co-founded 7iStans in partnership with my other female friends, with the goal of bringing seven countries together via athletics. In addition, I also mentored Afghan children through the Roya Mentorship program. I was truly thriving, and contributing to the future I hoped Afghanistan to be.
For these achievements, I received a Fulbright Scholarship to come and study in the United States. I arrived in the United States on August 10, 2021. On August 15, 2021, all of my dreams were dashed when the Taliban gained control of Kabul. It was the saddest day of my life when the Taliban forbade females from participating in sports, prevented girls from receiving an education, and stopped women from going to work.
Until then, I had planned on completing my master's degree and returning to Afghanistan. I had plans to create a consulting firm to help the private sector, particularly women-owned small and medium businesses in Afghanistan. And I had intended to serve in Afghanistan as the head of the finance ministry. I intended to assist Afghan women's enterprises in incorporating accounting concepts into their businesses. I intended to step up my efforts and make my company, 7iStans, a global sporting organization in Afghanistan.
When I was six years old, I knew that education was the only way for me to be successful. I think about how that eagerness is taken from all six-year-old girls in Afghanistan now. I think about my friend Mari, a 16-year-old girl whose national entrance exam to university earned her a place to study in the Economics Department, but now the Taliban do not allow her to go to university. I think of all my female colleagues who have been fired or ordered not to come to work. All these girls and young women who have the same aspirations as I did and are not allowed to pursue any of them under the Taliban’s regime. Life under Taliban control is a miserable life.
It is for them I am running the New York City Marathon in November. I am a lucky woman who has the opportunity to run. I can't scream, I can't cry, I can't take my family out of Afghanistan. I can't give women the right to choose. I can't assure Mari that she will have a good future in Afghanistan. I can't assure my mother that she will be safe. When I'm running, I’m able to forget about all those concerns. Running gives me the ability to be strong for myself and for the women who are living under the Taliban Regime.
I hope you will consider supporting me and my campaign, and the future of all Afghan women.