Greetings readers! Today I want to share with you a modern day role model who I believe can resonate with the youth of today. Her name is Nadia Nadim, she was born on January 2, 1988, in the city of Herat in war torn Afghanistan.
Her beloved father Rabani was an Army General trying to maintain peace among the many warring factions in the country. In the year 2000, Rabani was captured by the Taliban forces and brutally murdered.
Nadim was only 11 years when her father was kidnapped and taken into the desert by the Taliban forces and never saw him again.
It was then that her mother Hamida decided to flee Afghanistan with her five daughters as she felt there was no future for her family in her homeland and also there was the imminent threat of themselves being hunted down and killed.
These where extremely tough times as Nadia’s father had been murdered, there was a death threat now hanging over the entire family and they had to flee the country of their birth for refuge in a foreign land.
The decision was made to sell everything they had and flee to neighbouring Pakistan. From there they were given forged passports and loaded into a freezing cold truck and transported to Italy.
From here they were told they would be going to London, but were then offloaded in Denmark. They were then taken to a miserable and depressing refugee camp in rural Denmark, and it was here that their fate would be determined by the Denmark authorities.
It was also here that Nadia first saw a group of girls playing soccer and this sparked her interest in the game. She used to watch them play in the refugee camp and one day she plucked up the courage to ask the coach if she could join in.
That was the beginning of her love for soccer and suddenly she was training every day and getting better and better as days and weeks went by. After her family was finally granted asylum in Denmark, Nadia was determined to make football her passion and also her career.
Today Nadia Nadim after a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication is one of the most successful women football players of all time. She has played for such illustrious teams as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain where she won the French League Title in the season 2020/2021 to name a few teams.
She has also represented her country of Denmark over 100 times during her sparkling career. It doesn’t end there, she is also fluent in 11 languages, speaking Danish, English, German, Persian, Dari, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, French, Swedish and Norwegian.
She learned Dari and Persian from her native Afghanistan. She learned Urdu and Hindi while she was in Pakistan for many months waiting to be smuggled across the border.
She speaks Danish, Swedish and Norwegian through living in Denmark — her adopted home and has lived and played football in England, France, and other Arabic countries.
She was also training to be a medical doctor while playing football professionally and finished medical school in January 2022 and is now a qualified doctor.
Nadim will now continue her studies to become a reconstructive surgeon. Nadia has also been doing modeling for various agencies and has been signed up and represents Nike, making her the first Danish female footballer to represent the global brand Nike.
-She has also been assisting the brand with promoting women in sport and other outreach programs for the community.
Besides her work with Nike and Air Jordan, Nadim has been signed up by international credit card company Visa and Hugo Boss for various assignments both for humanitarian causes and promoting the brands she represents.
One of the key attributes is her on-screen presence as a knowledgeable sports analyst and commentator, speaking so many languages help her cut across racial and ethnic barriers as she is able to appeal to the masses in their own native languages.
Tragedy struck in November 2022, when during a live on-air football commentating assignment with British Broadcaster ITV covering the Denmark v Tunisia match, Nadia’s beloved mother and matriarch of the family was killed by a speeding truck.
She had to depart immediately to take charge and console her family members. Nadim was named UNESCO Champion for Girls and Women’s Education. She has been fierce advocate for promoting women in sport and gender equality and rest assured it’s not only lip service.
This individual has risen to the top of her profession in football and has also managed to excel in so many other fields as well, a truly unsung hero.
Today Nadia is considered one of the most influential female footballers of all time, and as her playing days are coming to a close, the future looks bright for the one-time fearful little girl who was fleeing her native Afghanistan and today she has so many positive opportunities ahead of her to serve humanity.
Finally, if you want to show your son or daughter a positive hard working and dedicated role model, well Nadia Nadim seems as good as anyone to inspire others to reach their true potential and their goals in life. Adios friends, until next week.
• AJAY BHAI AMRIT is a founding member of The People’s Alliance party and is also a freelance writer. The views expressed in this article are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.
