“Escaped from Kabul, I’m starting to live again in the Rossoneri”- Corriere.it

On the pitch today, it rains more balls than boxing gloves Nazira can stop them, Davide Corti is training the women’s AC Milan Primavera team and doesn’t make discounts to theguest arrived from Afghanistan with an important story in her suitcase. But, for once, the results are secondary: the hospitality with which Milan counts, through the commitment of the Foundation to give young people equal opportunities and the cultural mediation of Melograno Onlus, has welcomed Nazira Khair Zad, 18 years old, escaped Taliban violence on a humanitarian flight that departed from Kabul on August 23, 2021 in the days of the seizure of power, of chaos, of blood.

«I’m from the province of Bamiyan, my valley is famous for the archaeological site of the Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban – is the story of Nazira, eyes as black as the night from which it comes, the smile found in Italy -. I have an older sister, Nazimaand two brothers, it was by following them that I started playing football with the boys. Girls who play sports they are not well regarded in my countryDad forbade me at first, then I got permission as long as I did well in school. He’s a gardener, we’ve always lived a simple life. I also ran a few marathons, first with sandals, then with shoes that the staff of a non-profit organization got me. Through them I started skiing: the mountains around Bamiyan are high, there are no ski lifts, you go up on foot, you go down with a snowplow. But my favorite sport is football: being at Milan, the most successful Italian team in the world, the club of my idol Mike Maignan, is a dream».

The journey to get there Puma House of Football, the old Vismara field where the first women’s team and the youth sector train, was not short-lived. «From Ciampino to a quarantine center, then Ferrara to obtain refugee documents, from there to Bologna to a community for minors, because she was not yet of age at the time, finally placement in Sai, which is a center for second level for people who have obtained documents, finally Milan» explains Giulia Marini del Melograno. Each move a heart sank and new habits, while the sister followed a similar process in Germany and the rest of the family found refuge in Iran. “When the Taliban arrived in Kabul, the province of Bamiyan was still quiet – recalls Nazira during a break in training -. I was in Kabul with the Afghan national team (they had called a girl from every region of Afghanistan), we were supposed to play a friendly against Tajikistan when, after twenty years of war, Abdul Ghani Baradar installed the new government. The situation escalated quickly. Nazima, who was in Kabul to do university, was able to leave. Not me: I didn’t have a passport. Dad, from Bamiyan, ordered me: don’t come back, ask for hospitality at the coach’s house. Thanks to him I got the documents to leave the country and I was put on the waiting list: Canada, the United States or Italy are my possible destinations».

On August 23, 2021, delirium. Three days to go until the Abbey Gate terrorist bombing. «The confusion is total, the parents desperately entrust the newborns to the soldiers barricaded in the airport. I am in the crowd that tries to enter, I see the armed and menacing Taliban and pass out. I recover in time, the coach pays to let us in. I am loaded onto a random flight, which takes off towards Rome».

From the revolving doors of existence, Nazira emerges emotionally drained but alive. «Upon my arrival in Italy I did nothing but cry: I left everything in Afghanistan, I don’t know when I’ll see my parents again…». Football, in which he excelled at home, is the raft to cling to. «I’m in the dormitory in Ferrara, from the window I see some Italian boys playing football. I force myself, I ask to participate, I score three goals. That day I decided to become a professional soccer player. After a local newspaper tells my story, Spal invites me. In Bologna I dedicated myself to Italian lessons: now that I’m here I want to know your language and your culture. In Milan I live in a refugee center in Pieve Emanuele, I go to school, I learned how to get to Vismara by public transport public, now I don’t get lost anymore!». She likes pizza, she widened her eyes in front of the immensity of the San Siro, she would like to tell her experience to the players of the Milan first team (today engaged in Serie A at home against Pomigliano: the girls from the Milan Academy are also present as ball boys in Kuwait, the first garrison of an open-minded project), soon Elisabet Spina, sport director of Milan Women, will organize the meeting. “I can’t go back to Afghanistan, it’s too dangerous, but I hope to be a good message for all women.” You will stay here for five years, at least. Welcome, Nazira.