July 14, 2022 • 47 mins
This is the story of Nadia Nadim – a professional soccer player, a soon-to-be surgeon, a daughter, a sister, a niece, and an Afghan refugee… and, above all else, a kid who loved to play football. In this episode, we'll meet the family who just won’t quit, including Diana, Nadia’s sister and a champion boxer, and Aryana Sayeed, Nadia’s aunt and Afghanistan's most famous singer who has taken her fight for the rights of Afghan women all the way to the UN.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's the middle of the night. We've just been picked
up by this Eastern European looking guy in his little
golf car. Droven for forty five minutes, and we arrived
in this parking spot for for big trucks, just waiting.
I don't know what's happening. No one really knows what's happening,
(00:25):
and no one really dares to ask questions because you
are in this high alert survivor mode. I guess almost
shaken because of that Drillon int. The guy tell us
to run to the truck because you can see the
truck doors open, and he says, this is it. He
(00:46):
points at his lips that you have to be quiet.
My mom has my youngest sister and her arms, and
me and my older sister Keaty and I we were
in charge of a back each and we tried to
have the two young ones following Diana who was this
is off to me and my second youngest Muscan and yeah,
(01:08):
we just like Sprinton, climb up with behind the truck.
We passed these boxes and then in the end of
the corner there is like a little spot made for
for I guess for us, and I just remember that
my mom says, no one says anything, and you follow
(01:31):
your orders. I know we were young, but I think
if you put kids in situations where you know it's
life or that, that kids understand also how to manage themselves.
My mom was sitting in the corner and we were
just around her, half sleeping, half awake. Dark, It was
a bit cold, and the sound of the flaps of
(01:54):
the truck going on the entire time we were there
for I for ages, but I also remember every time
I was feeling a bit you know, sad or like
what's happening, I just went back to like, oh we're together,
Oh we're still alive, and everyone's together. This is the
(02:20):
story of Nadia Adem, a professional soccer player, a doctor,
a daughter, a sister, a niece, an Afghan refugee, and
above all else, a kid who just loved to play football.
This is also the story of her awe inspiring family
of women who, like Nadia, never back down. You'll meet
her sister, a champion boxer, and her aunt, Afghanistan's most
(02:43):
famous singer, who's taken her fight for the rights of
Afghan women all the way to the European Parliament. Bar
(03:04):
all stuff for no bad I'm Hannah watting him. And
this is Hustle Rule, an audio docuseries featuring the untold
stories of women's soccer players around the world, based on
the book Under the Lights and in the Dark, written
by Gwendolen Oxenham. This episode is Nadian Adem and the
Family of Fighters. It's the late nine nineties. It's four
(03:27):
or five o'clock in the morning, and the truck drops
off Nadia and her family in the darkness. I know
that the plan was she will drop us off close
to a police station on London because we had a
family there. But for an hour, almost an hour, we
didn't really see anyone. Everything is closed, no cars, no
(03:47):
nothing for an hour, and I remember being super confused
because I've heard of London. I remember like, there's a
big city and all like wow. I didn't imagine London
to be like this, and my brain but no one
really stays anything because again, it didn't really matter. We
were alive and we were together. And after an hour
(04:11):
we saw this older guy with his little dog walking
and my mom went to him and asked him in
English where we were and he was like run us
and she was like, oh, which country? He was more
confused than we were. He was like Denmark with a
weird face. I'm almost like thank you. And then she
asked where the police station was. It was super empty.
(04:32):
It was like this huge building. And then finally we
met this one guy and my mom went and and
told him that we were seeking asylum, and then she
went in for an interview, and we were sitting and
waiting for her. The police came out with my mom
and he looked at us and asked if we were hungry,
(04:53):
did the hungry sign and all, like you know when
your eyes like a light up. The guy drove us,
like probably at ten minutes in his police car to
this little store where he bought a banana, milk, fruit
and stuff toast and you have the best meal so far. Um.
(05:13):
That was like but than any mesialing restaurants I've been on.
I was born in Afghanistan and lived there until I
was around eleven years old. My dad was an Afghan
military my mom was a school teacher. My dad was
killed after the Talban gained power in Afghanistan, which made
(05:33):
it very very difficult for me and my mom and
my father sisters to have a life there. I think
the things I remember from my dad is like the
positive stuff. I also remember him being away a lot.
Being a general, he had a lot of responsibility, I guess,
so it was just like the strong person, you know,
(05:55):
like almost like a superhero. And my eyes, um, he
was really at dick and and and he had this
aura around him that when he walked in the room,
everyone kind of almost froze because he had this like
authority tair look, I would say. So. I also remember
when he used to come back from work. The first
half an hour he had to adjust that he was
(06:16):
home now and had to loosen up. So we were
like the first half an hour really still, and after
when he loosed up, we were like all over him.
When he disappeared, for a while, we didn't knew what
would really happened, and then we found out later on
that he was killed the same day at this desert.
Not knowing what went dan, it was very hard, and
(06:40):
you know, you believed the entire time that he actually
was still alive. And then even when we got to
know that he was killed, I didn't really believe it
because in my head I always thought my dad was
like this, you know, this agent super cooperson that no
one really could touch. After a while of struggling and
(07:02):
trying to survive, we decided to leave the country. We
sold everything we had paid a human smuggler to get
a better life, to be somewhere we were safe, and
this person transported us to Pakistan. From Pakistan, we were
flown with fake passports is to Italy, and in Italy
(07:24):
we were transported for fifty hours behind a truck to Denmark.
And that's where I feel I started to have a life.
At a refugee center in vis Nadia found her great
love football. As they say it in Denmark, you're young,
(07:46):
you don't understand the language, you're curious, and suddenly you
go from being you know, locked up inside the house
and not allowed to go outside because of dangerous you
can be kidnapped or you're gonna be killed, to suddenly
actually be allowed to be a kid. We were like
this group of kids that always hang out and you know,
try to try to figure out what's happening around the camp.
(08:07):
It was my two sisters, my older sister and my
losses Adiana, and then there were like three or four
other kids from the refugee camp. We spoke different languages, Arabic, Armenian, Bosnian.
But our communication was like sign language at the beginning,
I guess, and then later on some Danish words, some
(08:28):
English word we could like communicate without actually communicating with
a language, you know what I mean. We just mixed
everything that we kind of knew and it worked. From
nine to one I was in school, and then from
nine to midnight I was outside every day. I always say,
it's fate. The camp was located just beside a football club.
(08:51):
We just got really quickly the football fields, the football fields,
and then refugee camp was divided by some for a
like thing, and then there was a sense at the
beginning we were always outside the fence watching. That was
the first time I saw a girl playing football, a
goal team playing football, and I described it as like
you know when you're struck by by the lightning and
(09:12):
then you have you hear angels, you know, the light
I thought it was very very cool to see a
girl playing the way she was playing, and I was like, wow,
I really want to be that person. I wanted so
badly to learn how to play football. We didn't really
had a football or the boots or anything, but what
we had was the passion and the love for the game.
(09:35):
So we used to just like run around after this
Dutch ball and everyone was playing. Everyone with time, we
figure out how to get around the fence and be
on the field. Then we were like really far away
from the fields and just like looking and as time
passed by, you get more courage because you're like, oh,
(09:56):
they've seen me and and they haven't really reacted and
like hostile away, so you get a bit closer. So
at the end, I was literally on the like field
and when they had shooting drills, the ball which sometimes
you know, not hit the goal and go over, so
then I'll be running off the ball and then bring
it back to them. But then once I figure out,
(10:17):
you know that some of the balls were never found,
I was like, maybe there's other balls that we can find.
Let's go. So the group and I we took some
of these plastic trash bags and then we just went
from A to Z, like from one side to the
other because it was like really dense forests. And you
know how many balls we discovered, twenty three balls. I
(10:41):
wasn't shock, everyone wasn't shot. We were so hyped about it.
You know, some of them were you could tell they've
been there for like years, very deflated an old balls,
like you know, but some of the other ones like
really really new one, and you know how expensive balls are.
At that point, you're like this nice. So we went
with all the balls back to the club and we're like,
(11:03):
so these are the balls that we found. You know,
we just showed them the guy he took the new ones,
but let us have the old ones. We were still
super excited, you know, like, oh my god, we have
so many balls. And then we went to this nearest
tank station because we didn't have a ball pump um
and I remember one person is holding a really tight
(11:23):
and the other is like pushing the plus to to
try to get some end the balls, you know, the
car pumps, the big ones. It was. It was a
good day. It was a good day. So as soon
as you know, the football became a thing, it was
a competition, so everyone was like trying to figure out
who's like the best player in the campaign. And I
(11:44):
remember our at the beginning. One of the things that
was really big was the juggling competition to see how
many juggles you can take. Remember at the beginning, I
was like one, two, three, seven, and then I was
stuck to seven for a long time, and then I
went like around seventeen or whatever. But there was one
I think he was really good and then he was
juggling with one ft but he could keep it off
(12:05):
for a really long time. I think fifty six. This
was something that was annoying me because I was like, oh,
it can't be better than me. And I used to
every day just like use hours and hours to control
this ball. I remember the day I beat him and
I'm like, already, let's go, guys. And I started to
(12:25):
keep him up and I was like, okay, I just
beat my own record. I remember reaching to fifty six
and then my last touch was really bad. I was like, oh,
I cannot tie with this guy. So I'm just like
I thrown myself to hit the ball last time. And
then while I was doing this, I smashed my hand
or my finger, so I was really injured with my
(12:46):
and my tongue. But it didn't really matter because I
was the champ of the camp at that point and
everyone was like, oh my god, no, you just got
fifty seven. I'm like, yeah, that's me, guys. The thing
that I really loved about playing football was that you
could see progress so fast. Like as I said, I
started taking three juggles and then same day I could
(13:08):
I was up on seven. So like this thing that
you felt, oh, you were accomplishing something day by day
as hour went by, it was I don't know, made
me happy and it was very satisfying. It still is
and and and you know this obsession that I had
with it was going somewhere. I could see that, oh
(13:29):
I want to learn this trick that I saw. If
I stood there for eight nine hours, I'll actually at
the end get it. And then you're like, oh my god,
I just did it. And then you know your your
excitement grew and you kept going for hours again. After
a couple of months, I gathered my courage and when
then asked the coach if I could be a part
(13:50):
of the team. I'm a person with a lot of confidence.
I've always been this way. But I remember I was very,
very very nervous, first of all because I didn't know
what to say. Secondly because I was scared that he
was saying no. I just went and pointed at myself
first and then on the field, and then I was
like this okay, and the guy I was like, yeah,
(14:10):
it just, you know, not his head. That's why I
love football so much, because you don't really need to
like no, the language he could see in my eyes also,
you know, the excitement and then the hope, I guess,
and he just smiled and nod at me like yeah,
and then I looked at him. I was like almostn't
sure because I didn't believe that would be that easy.
(14:33):
But lucky for me, he was a really nice person
and he gave me a chance to be a part
of the team and be able to be a kid,
I guess. So I'm still grateful for that, and I
think that's the day my life changed. I felt accepted
right away. One of my first trainings, you're doing the
(14:55):
warm up and you're like, oh, I've never seen this
exercises before, just like normal warm ups because I've never
done it, you know, I'm like, Okay, knees up, and
you're trying to copy and and trying to adapt. I
trained with him a couple of weeks, and then one
day he came. He gave me this little note saying
game Saturday twelve a m at here and I was
(15:19):
about to like explode of happiness. Obviously. I ran to
my mom and told her I needed kleats because it's
my first game. I need to have football boots because
so far I've been training with I don't know, just
like normal shoes. And she didn't really have a lot
of money, but she was like, okay, fair enough, let's
go to the local second hand store. And I think
(15:41):
somehow we found these really old, old, old And when
I say old, like old from ancient football shoes, you know.
They were too small. I had the biggest blisters, but
I didn't really care. And I remember sleeping and then
the first night because someone had told me, if you
shower in them and then just have month for a
really long time, they're gonna expand. So I remember showering
(16:04):
in them in really hot water and then just having
the month, the entire night to see if they're gonna
fit better tomorrow. They didn't really do that, but I
should have kept those shoes. I think they would be
like a lot of money. We're right now, because they
were like from the forties. So we when left refugee camp,
(16:25):
we were still in the nerly part of Denmark, in
this little actually really nice place called Grayby. It was
calm and like environment, very safe, good people. My first
school day was sixth grade. I was the first kid
who looked different in our school than all the other
Danish ones. So everyone was like excited and super nice
(16:48):
and curious. There's also some apples on the schoolyard, but
but most of them was really nice. Um and everyone
had heard that, you know the kids from refugee camp
who plays football, and uh, they've told him she was
very smart. And at this point I don't I didn't
really knew the language, you know, crazy, because I've literally
(17:08):
been there for seven eight months. We didn't have a
lot of money. We were actually really poor. I remember,
you know, my coach at a refugee camp that his
daughter was gonna start in a bigger team in be
towards US, which means B fifty two. And he was like,
na ya, you guys should come for a trial, you know,
because it's a bigger team and you're gonna play eleven
(17:30):
aside now because we used to play seven aside. And
it's like Cecily, who was his daughter, and he was
the first kid that I saw playing football first. The
girl it's going to also be there. So we begged
my mom to let us go, and she was like
not really, not having it because we had to buy
from our house to the train station, take a train,
(17:51):
and then take a bus to training and then all
the way back. Taking the train costs money, taking the
bus costs money, and I don't have the money for
you guys every week to go through three times there.
So the first day we went and it was amazing.
It went really well, and I remember the coach has
been super excited and he was like, I really want
you guys. We said, well, we want also, but unfortunately
(18:13):
my mom doesn't have the money and we can't afford it.
This is a lot of money to take the bus
and the train, and I remember the coach were like, okay,
let me see what I can do. And then when
he came to tell my mom that the club could
pay for our train tickets, my mom really didn't have
any excuses. Her excuse was what about the school that
(18:33):
So we promised her to do really well in school
if she let us go. So I used to take
my you know, school books and stuff in the train
and the bus uh to do homework afterwards, so my
mom would never have anything to complain about. And she
let us play football. Nadia and her sister Diana also
(18:56):
found time to work a job. They got a paper
route delivering new papers, leaving the house at five every morning.
So me and Diana, even even though we were really
young and we're not allowed to work, we started working
with newspaper. It started really slow, and then later on
we got like more and more and I loved it.
We had this tradition that every Friday we used to
(19:19):
go and have ice cream, just because you know, we
have the money to have ice cream once a week,
and we loved it sitting there having like five six
scoops of ice cream, just even though we couldn't eat it.
Then you start freezing. Your tongue used to like be
numb because it was too cold, but like the feeling
of you can do it was amazing. I don't know.
(19:41):
We used to help my mom with her you know,
give some of our salary to my mom. We used
to be able to buy shoes. Remember the first thing
we bought was like roller blades, and then slowly kind
of worked our ways up to bicycles, and then later
on we got our first scooter computer, you know. So
it was like it would just feel of you know,
achieving things. And at the same time our roots got
(20:03):
bigger and bigger. Because you now have a bicycle, now
you have a scooter, you can have like bigger routes.
So we used to wake up around three am and
then just like go five hours until eight am, and
then the day would be finished by me and her
going and buying this like huge cake, splicing it to
have some green tea. I'll be like a lot of
this life. And then after that going to game. Not
(20:27):
the best way, but hey, me and Jana we played
for a really long time. Here's Diana's memory of the
typical routine. I was really bad at a soccer and
she was like, if you want this, I'm going to
teach you, but you need to listen. We was watching
this movie is like Karate Kid, you know we see
most of and the Karate Kid, and she was basically
(20:51):
training me all the time that I used to watch
Oliver con videos, you know, the German Keeper anybody, and
I used to force her to do the same thing.
When she was like, oh this hurts, I was like, dude,
if you want to be like her, and she was
like okay, And I used to like punish her if
she didn't do right, So I would kick the ball
at five times for her to get it. And she
(21:12):
actually was very very good, seriously, probably one of the
best keepers I've ever played against still today. When I
was younger, I had a lot of temper and and
and you know, I always spoke my mind, and I
used to get a lot of red cars, not because
of files or anything, just because I used to argue
with the reft when I was like, this is unfair.
I was like, why why are you doing this? And
(21:34):
they used to give me a red card for it.
But I've I've I've learned to control my temper. I
remember one of my coaches telling me that I should
use my temper too, to run more or tackle harder.
You know, I hit the ball harder and stuff like
using my mouth. So that's something that I've worked on.
But still sometimes I get in the red zone and
(21:54):
I'm about to explode. But I've I've learned to channel it.
As for Diana, she found her own way to channel
her red zone. She said to me, as a keeper,
you can have the best game of your life and
you still can lose one zero. It doesn't matter what
you do. If attacker didn't score and they somehow have
a hundred chances and you save ninety nine of them,
(22:16):
one is going to go in. So she hated this
feeling of not being in charge, so she started boxing.
Here's Deanna for me personally, if I didn't have the boxing,
I think it will I will have a different character.
I can be very aggressive and I've just learned how
to handle it. She was so good. I remember her
(22:39):
first fight. We were there and I knew it was
like a tournament whereas a lot of boxes, and we
didn't knew what time she's gonna be so I was
there super early. I was there like around ten and
her fight was like around six pm. It just lasted well,
less than twenty seconds. Knock at her opponent, the first
person she was boxing against, knocked at her. She won
(23:15):
her first five man That's insane. See, I was like
happy and disappointed. I was like, what, I'm waited so
many hours and just twenty seconds? What is this? But yeah,
she is a beast. She won the Danish championship like
(23:35):
seven years in a row. She went to China to
qualify for the Olympics, but had a lot of health
issue as well. She was diagnosed with a tumor, benign
tumor on her brain, which her medicine that she was
taken was very, very very hard on her body. So
(23:56):
she was, you know, feeling sick a lot, losing hair,
and she also went through like a lot of kimu.
I was like, oh my god, I have a tumor.
I'm gonna die. But they checked it. It's not a
dangerous tumor, but it's there, you know. Then I was like,
I'm really tired. I'm always tired. I want to sleep
(24:16):
all the time. Imagine yourself you have like a Ferrari engine,
and then changed that to I go you know I'm saying,
and it was difficult for me. So at this point,
she was like training twice a day. Um. So she's
like a badass. And she called me before the fight
(24:38):
and she's like, oh, I'm feeling so tired now. Yeah,
I'm like that sucks. She's like, oh, I don't I
don't know what's happening in my body. I was like, oh, dude,
it's okay. The thing and you know, I know, I
don't know what I'm crying. It is just because I
know how hard it is too well, something so badly,
(25:01):
and then there's obstacles in your way. I never tell
her the stuff because you know, you don't want to
be like, oh, it's it's hard for you. I never
say this. I've never said it to her. I always say,
get you together. But I know it's it's hard, you know,
because imagine you train, oh, your life to be somewhere
(25:24):
and then you She was like, I'm feeling so sick.
I have a fight, like in four hours, and she
was poking, and I know it was because of her medicine.
And I kept telling her, do you got this? They
cannot do you know, like you it's even though you
were there with one army, still gonna win. Um so yeah.
(25:46):
So but unfortunately she didn't go by because she she
was like, I couldn't I couldn't even walk. And there
was a big blow. You know, I was fighting and
I was winning the any championships. But two thousand thirteen,
it just it was growing. So I had some issues.
(26:06):
Then I took a break, and they were afraid of
that I could get blind or something like that. I
got to Sweden, I got to treatment every day with
my mom. The tumorous stopped growing, and then I just
started slowly doing my training again. It's tough to make
a comeback if you've been away for so long time.
(26:27):
I want to take a step by step. Recent issue
has been here. Nadia and was training together and she
was on my case all the time, trash talking each other.
That's there is a part of it, you know, have
been that since we were child, but a good way,
in a competitive way. I just decided, you know what,
(26:48):
this disease is there or not, I'm just gonna keep
doing my thing. I'm a fighter. Nothing would make me
more happy to being in shape and just be healthy.
People that they just don't realize that sometimes, you know,
until you get sick and then you're like, okay, I
don't want nothing. I just want to be okay. She's
(27:11):
a fighter, and I can tell uh it hasn't been
easy for her. But I never said this thought to
her again because we have this mindset and our family
like it could be always worse. It could be so
much worse. You can walk and you can breathe um,
so anything is possible. On the other hand, I can
(27:32):
also tell that she's so passionate about it, so I
cannot tell her not to do it because if someone
told me, not you, I don't play football because if
this is this, I'll be like, shut up, I'll still
keep going, you know. So it's a balance. And as
I said, she's a fighter in real life. Also, as
long as you keep fighting, you find a way. It
(27:54):
took me seven years, but as long as you keep
coming again and keep coming again, you now you will
find away. The entire family of women knows how to fight.
Their mom raised five girls in an unfamiliar country. Here's Diana.
But my mom she was a really you know, strong woman,
and she was like, look at the glass half full,
(28:16):
don't see the emptiness and it so tould like you
guys have this opportunity people would dream about in India
and Afghanistan or whatever, do something about. That's what That's
what we did, you know. And their aunt is a
fighter too. So my aunt Arianna said, is this super
(28:38):
super famous, most famous Afgant singer pop singer. She is
the Afghant Beyonce. How would call her? Don't like literally
people cry when they see her. I've experienced as I
was an instan bull and she snapped something that she
was people were chasing her and then they saw her
(29:00):
and they're like. Everyone was like just crying. I was like, okay,
come that. You know. I imagine being an artist in
the country like Afghanistan, where where females are not allowed
to have a voice. She has been defying all these
things and trying to fight for women's right in Afghanistan,
trying to tell women that it's okay to have a voice.
(29:23):
She puts her life in danger by doing so, so
I know for a fact sometimes when she's Afghanistan, there's
scars sent out to try to find her car to
kill her. My name is Ariana said. I am a
singer and a woman's rights activists from Afghanistan. I left
Afghanistan at the age of eight when we had to
(29:44):
flee the country because of the war. I've been living
in the UK since two thousand and I went back
to Afghanistan in two thousand and eleven as I was
invited by a big TV to do a concert. When
I went back act for this concert, I I just
fell in love with the country all over again, with
the people over the country, with the culture and everything,
(30:08):
and I decided to to stay in Afghanistan and give back.
During her ten years in Afghanistan, Ariana was a judge
on big TV shows like The Voice of Afghanistan and
Afghan Superstar. It was not easy for me to to
live in Afghanistan and work from there because because of
(30:28):
what I stand for, because of the fact that I'm
a singer, because of the fact that i stand for
women's rights. I mean, talabandon liked me, priests, the extreme
minded society that we have in Afghanistan. I was a
target and I was getting threats all the time. But
the fact that I could change so much, it was
fulfilling as a human being, as a as a woman,
(30:49):
as somebody you know who stands for for humanity and
for freedom. The Taliban is on a major offensive, capturing
around one fifty Afghan military outposts in the last two months.
We had to basically escape the takeover Taler and everything.
It was such a nightmare's It was so scary that
(31:11):
now I'm sitting here thinking about it, I feel I
still feel like it was either a dream or it
was a movie or something like that. And of course,
as I said, I was already a target of Taliban
past few years, and now them taking the entire city
and me being in the city was something crazy, you know,
and if they captured me, I don't know, they would
(31:31):
have probably instantly killed me, or I don't know what
they would have done to me. I have no idea.
When they got to Coble and I got stuck at
the airport, and I was actually booked on a flight
to leave the day they took over. Unfortunately, when they
got to the city, our flight got canceled because that
plane was filled with thousands of people inside it, and
(31:54):
the pilots run away, and the security guards at the airplane,
everybody run away, and there was chaos, and I was
stuck there at the airport, thinking, oh my god, what
am I going to do? And by that time we
know that Taliban are like right outside the airport and
they can come anytime. Eventually, we were rescued by American
soldiers and they got us out of Afghanistan, whether with
(32:17):
that army plane. Her passion for her country has led
Ariana to speak before NATO and the European Parliament to
bring attention to the fate of her fellow Afghan women
since the US withdrawal. When America came to our country,
they claimed that you know, they will get rid of
al Qaeda, and they will get rid of terrorists and
(32:38):
things like that. And twenty years we thrived and we
worked so hard, you know, and we achieved so much.
And these women. We had women working in the parliament,
we had women working in the offices, and now by
the return of Taliban, we have lost everything that we're
back to zero. My own clothing brand, we had a
(33:00):
beautiful store in Couple City for about one month only
and this is when unfortunately Taliban took over again. When
they came, we had to unfortunately shut down the store,
all the team, the women. We had about twenty two
people working for me at that time. And unfortunately, all
those women, all the employees, everybody they have, they have
(33:23):
to just set at home and they have no jobs anymore,
and not even food to eat because you know, of
the Taliban and everything that happened. Unfortunately, Taliban are not
allowing women to work or to study, or they're not
even allowed to go outside without the presence of a man.
Here's the thing, one message I want to give out
(33:45):
to all those women is to fight on and not
give up. Proud of having heared my family and everyone
is very proud of what she's doing because it's it's
new in Afghanistan. She's a symbole, symbol of freedom. I
think she is a symbol of what women can achieve
if they want to, even though it's I would say,
(34:07):
as a dangerous, dangerous job. I think she inspired me
to go after the goals that I want, even though
they seemed very hard or there's gonna be obstacles surrounded.
And if you ask Arianna, she'll tell you her nieces
inspire her too. All of them defy expectations, even if
(34:31):
their chosen professions are just a touch different from their aunts.
I've never been to boxing matches before, and this was
the first night. Only went because of Dianna, And by
the time the five fundition, I was so exhausted and
my voice had gone because I had screamed so much
out of your own like excitement and calling her name
(34:51):
and everything, and it was so scary to me. I
said to her, I will never ever come back to
your fight again, because this was way too bad for me.
And of course she's my niece. I wanted her to
to win the fight, and everything which she did then
my entire family we were there, we celebrated, was beautiful,
but never again. Arianna has also gone to support Nadia,
(35:14):
who became a star of the Danish national team, something
that was really beautiful. When she finished the game and
we came out of the stadium, there was like a
long group of children waiting for her for them to
just sign you know, like give her signature. I was
like wow. I was like, I felt so proud. It
was really cool, like her aunt pursuing one girl who
(35:40):
wasn't enough. For Nadia, her dreams extend beyond the field,
you know. I saw this film of Tom Cruise where
he was a lawyer, and I was like, Oh, that
looks pretty cool. I want to be a lawyer. And
then I did internshipping in this law company for a
couple of months, and I felt it was really boring
and it was not the way I imagined or the
way it is in the movies. And then I was like, nah,
(36:02):
this is not me. And at a certain point I
wanted to work in Wall Street again because of the money,
and I was like, nah, this is not me. My
mom was always she wanted to be a doctor when
she was younger, but she got married and life came
and she didn't really achieve her goal or her dream.
So she always said to us that she would love
(36:23):
to see one of us as a doctor, and I
hated that out, like, I'm not gonna do your dream.
It's your dream, is not mine. So she always used
to tell me, but you're very smart. You could be
a good doctor, and I'm like, yeah, but I don't
want to because it's your dream. And I remember when
I was a nine grade we had this one week
where you get to go and have working experience. I
(36:46):
chose this private hospital because it was closer our home
and I got to sleep in so I didn't have
to wake up super early. So I was like, you know,
one week, I'm gonna sleep in and I'm gonna easy life.
But when I was there. While I was there, I
thought it was very interesting. This guy plastic surgeon was
doing everything from cosmetic to reconstruction. I was like, wow,
(37:10):
this is so cool. I had really good grades and
then Denmark High. Your grades are the more doors are
open for you, so I could literally choose anything I
wanted to any university. And when the day came and
I had to apply, you have three choices and then
three universities, so you're gonna choose. My first priority is
(37:30):
this second disc, third disk, so if you don't get
in in the first, you're gonna go second. If you
don't get second, third and so on. And I remember
I was like, I'm just gonna medicine first thing. That's
the only thing I wrote. I was like, medicine and
where all his university send it in. A couple of
weeks later, I got the let us saying I was accepted.
(37:53):
So I remember not telling my mom that I had
applied for med school because I wanted to tell her
that it's my decision, not because you wanted me to.
I told my mom Ike got in a finance and
she was like, oh, I'm very happy for you, but
like half hearted. But why when I started first semesterisly
I told my mom that I was accepted in med
school and she was like super excited. And after first
(38:17):
semester I knew I had made the right decision because
I love everything about it. I really enjoyed this feeling
that you get like operation rooms. I get the same
Madrellan and when you're scoring a goal. I love this.
I wouldn't say power, but I don't know this feeling
of that you have such a huge responsibility in your hands.
(38:37):
I love that I love that you can have a
huge impact on people's daily lives. When you walk in
the like corridors of a hospital and you see all
the guy and you just smiled to him, you can
immediately see the change in his face, you know, and
I don't know. I love that feeling, and I love
the fact that you, a certain situations are the last
(38:58):
person that can help these people. But when you're trying
to qualify as a doctor and be a professional athlete,
it's a punishing schedule. You know, you can never learn enough.
And every day it's a zoom and it's eight am
Danish time, so I wake up at two am to
attend my school. It's it's the passion that I have.
(39:19):
And if you want to achieve your goals, you have
to work hard for it. And I just don't say
this to say it. I actually work very hard for
everything that I do. Everything I have. My oldest sisters
is a doctor right now working at a pediatric department
in Denmark. My two youngest sister or nurses. I don't
know why we all ended up in, you know, this
(39:40):
same field. I think the reason is that we really
want to help people. I think I speak on my behalf.
But I think also probably similar views is that you
know the importance of having help with the people given
us through our lives, you know has meant a lot,
and you wanted to do the same thing for others.
(40:04):
My dream or my goal is one day for us
to have a clinic together somewhere then the deams. I
want to think of my father. It's something that my
mom tells me a lot of time, which is funny.
She says to me, especially me and Diana, we remind
a lot of him, just the way we are. I
(40:25):
think the way I think she told me one day
because I've been athletic and lookwise, also looking like my
dad a bit. It's just she says, the character very,
very determined and and then strong headed stubb And I
would say, even like years went by and I sometimes
(40:48):
I felt I saw him, and I'll be like, is
that him? So I always had this feeling he somehows
survived or he is somewhere instill in Afghanistan, or maybe
he escaped from Afghanistan because he had to you and
he's in a different country and one day he's gonna
come and be like, hey, guys, I had to do this,
so it was weird. For a really long time, I
(41:09):
felt like I saw in places and I used to
dream of him a lot, which is I think normal.
And and I remember when I was doing my biography
with with the Danish writer Um that she explained explained
(41:35):
me that there's just like a coping because the mechanism
that you that it's a normal thing that you that's
how you cope with it. Um that for a really
long time you still feel that they're there. So now
I don't anymore. It's weird. I've told it had a
(42:00):
really a time, but sometimes it gets to me. M. Yeah,
the life if I was as stayed in Afghanistan would
be probably very very different, if we would be a life.
You know, I think as a girl, you're not really
allowed to do anything and not even allowed to go
to school, which I thought it was stupid. So also
(42:23):
when I think of how my character is, how stubborn
I am with certain stuff, I would have found it
extremely hard to to just a bow down, and you
know that's just not in my DNA. So I don't
think I would been of a life anyways. You know,
(42:44):
now I've been talking of my dad being just like
super intelligent, and you know, and really stubborn. I think
my mom is even stronger. I think she's one of
the strongest people I've ever met. She is tiny, um,
so I get surprised sometimes I'm like, well, how's that possible.
And one of the things that I've i know, I've
(43:05):
got from a moment I love about her is that
she does not take, i know, for an answer if
she really wants something. At times it's annoying, You're like, oh,
come on, man, just can you not just not do it?
She's like no, And I love that. You know, it
takes a lot of courage and a lot of energy
to be that way. Um. But she always follows what
(43:28):
she wants and I think that's really something that I admire.
And she's very intelligent, you know, I think, a very
open minded and adapts easily. I feel she was the
person who gave us a second chance. My mom was
young when my dad died. A lot of women in
(43:50):
her position, I know, because a lot of women went
through the same thing. They were remarried, and my mom
there were a lot of people after her. She could
have done that and you know, almost give up on
her us because if she got married, we haven't been
treated well, that's for sure, and probably arranged marriages super
(44:12):
early to get rid of you know. UM. So she
didn't want that. She wants us to go to school,
study and become something. So she chose us and that's
something that UM always going to be grateful. That's one
of the reasons I'm so outspoken when it comes to
my life story and the struggles. I think it just
shows that you can be in a really dark place
(44:34):
and then and you can get out of it. The
most important thing, and this is that you should never
lose hope. I think humans are capable of a lot
more than you we actually think we are. It doesn't
really matter if you're a refugee or anyone, because everyone
has their own struggles. You always have to believe this
(44:55):
possible to to change your situation. And you know, I
think the day that I and have holebar, I lose
this feeling of that there's nothing I can do, is
probably there that I want to die. I know it
sounds really extreme, but that's also very important for me.
Nadia has played for professional teams around the world. In
(45:16):
she led Parry Saint Germain to their first Division One
title in history, scoring eighteen goals in twenty seven games.
Now she plays for nws LS Racing Louisville FC. She's
just returning to the field after six months out with
an a c L tear. Her first practice back, her
teammates formed a mini tunnel, giving her high fives, cheering
(45:38):
as she ran victoriously out to training. After practice is over,
she often still juggles the way she did when she
was a kid, remaining on the field with three or
four other players seeing how long they can keep the
ball up and when things go awry, when the ball
gets away from them, Nadia is on the sprint splaying
out her laughter ringing across the wide beautiful field. I'm
(46:04):
Hannah Waddingham and this is Hustle Rule. Join us for
our next episode. Brazil's number ten. Cry in the beginning
and smile in the end. Staff for Noel Bad. Hustle
(46:28):
Rule is a production of Waffle Iron Entertainment, Range Media Partners,
Observatory Audio, UP Media and I Heart Radio, written and
directed by Gwendolyn oxen Um, hosted by me Hannah wadding Um,
and is based on the book Under the Lights and
in the Dark, written by Gwendolyn oxen Um. The executive
producers are Justin Biskun from Waffle Iron Entertainment, Bob Alligan
(46:49):
from Range Media Partners, and Sean Titan from I Heart Radio.
Co written by Ruth Hilton, Produced by Gwendolyn oxen Um,
Ruth Hilton and Jordana Glick Franszheim, co produced by Jimmy
Jelinek and Jared Goodstadt, Edited by Carry Caulfield, Eric sound
design and mixing by Jeremiah's Immerman. Music by Jeff Peters
and Bill mart Theme song performed by a one Laflair.
(47:12):
You'll find more podcasts from I Heeart Radio on the
I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Goodbody
It's the middle of the night. We've just been picked
up by this Eastern European looking guy in his little
golf car. Droven for forty five minutes, and we arrived
in this parking spot for for big trucks, just waiting.
I don't know what's happening. No one really knows what's happening,
(00:25):
and no one really dares to ask questions because you
are in this high alert survivor mode. I guess almost
shaken because of that Drillon int. The guy tell us
to run to the truck because you can see the
truck doors open, and he says, this is it. He
(00:46):
points at his lips that you have to be quiet.
My mom has my youngest sister and her arms, and
me and my older sister Keaty and I we were
in charge of a back each and we tried to
have the two young ones following Diana who was this
is off to me and my second youngest Muscan and yeah,
(01:08):
we just like Sprinton, climb up with behind the truck.
We passed these boxes and then in the end of
the corner there is like a little spot made for
for I guess for us, and I just remember that
my mom says, no one says anything, and you follow
(01:31):
your orders. I know we were young, but I think
if you put kids in situations where you know it's
life or that, that kids understand also how to manage themselves.
My mom was sitting in the corner and we were
just around her, half sleeping, half awake. Dark, It was
a bit cold, and the sound of the flaps of
(01:54):
the truck going on the entire time we were there
for I for ages, but I also remember every time
I was feeling a bit you know, sad or like
what's happening, I just went back to like, oh we're together,
Oh we're still alive, and everyone's together. This is the
(02:20):
story of Nadia Adem, a professional soccer player, a doctor,
a daughter, a sister, a niece, an Afghan refugee, and
above all else, a kid who just loved to play football.
This is also the story of her awe inspiring family
of women who, like Nadia, never back down. You'll meet
her sister, a champion boxer, and her aunt, Afghanistan's most
(02:43):
famous singer, who's taken her fight for the rights of
Afghan women all the way to the European Parliament. Bar
(03:04):
all stuff for no bad I'm Hannah watting him. And
this is Hustle Rule, an audio docuseries featuring the untold
stories of women's soccer players around the world, based on
the book Under the Lights and in the Dark, written
by Gwendolen Oxenham. This episode is Nadian Adem and the
Family of Fighters. It's the late nine nineties. It's four
(03:27):
or five o'clock in the morning, and the truck drops
off Nadia and her family in the darkness. I know
that the plan was she will drop us off close
to a police station on London because we had a
family there. But for an hour, almost an hour, we
didn't really see anyone. Everything is closed, no cars, no
(03:47):
nothing for an hour, and I remember being super confused
because I've heard of London. I remember like, there's a
big city and all like wow. I didn't imagine London
to be like this, and my brain but no one
really stays anything because again, it didn't really matter. We
were alive and we were together. And after an hour
(04:11):
we saw this older guy with his little dog walking
and my mom went to him and asked him in
English where we were and he was like run us
and she was like, oh, which country? He was more
confused than we were. He was like Denmark with a
weird face. I'm almost like thank you. And then she
asked where the police station was. It was super empty.
(04:32):
It was like this huge building. And then finally we
met this one guy and my mom went and and
told him that we were seeking asylum, and then she
went in for an interview, and we were sitting and
waiting for her. The police came out with my mom
and he looked at us and asked if we were hungry,
(04:53):
did the hungry sign and all, like you know when
your eyes like a light up. The guy drove us,
like probably at ten minutes in his police car to
this little store where he bought a banana, milk, fruit
and stuff toast and you have the best meal so far. Um.
(05:13):
That was like but than any mesialing restaurants I've been on.
I was born in Afghanistan and lived there until I
was around eleven years old. My dad was an Afghan
military my mom was a school teacher. My dad was
killed after the Talban gained power in Afghanistan, which made
(05:33):
it very very difficult for me and my mom and
my father sisters to have a life there. I think
the things I remember from my dad is like the
positive stuff. I also remember him being away a lot.
Being a general, he had a lot of responsibility, I guess,
so it was just like the strong person, you know,
(05:55):
like almost like a superhero. And my eyes, um, he
was really at dick and and and he had this
aura around him that when he walked in the room,
everyone kind of almost froze because he had this like
authority tair look, I would say. So. I also remember
when he used to come back from work. The first
half an hour he had to adjust that he was
(06:16):
home now and had to loosen up. So we were
like the first half an hour really still, and after
when he loosed up, we were like all over him.
When he disappeared, for a while, we didn't knew what
would really happened, and then we found out later on
that he was killed the same day at this desert.
Not knowing what went dan, it was very hard, and
(06:40):
you know, you believed the entire time that he actually
was still alive. And then even when we got to
know that he was killed, I didn't really believe it
because in my head I always thought my dad was
like this, you know, this agent super cooperson that no
one really could touch. After a while of struggling and
(07:02):
trying to survive, we decided to leave the country. We
sold everything we had paid a human smuggler to get
a better life, to be somewhere we were safe, and
this person transported us to Pakistan. From Pakistan, we were
flown with fake passports is to Italy, and in Italy
(07:24):
we were transported for fifty hours behind a truck to Denmark.
And that's where I feel I started to have a life.
At a refugee center in vis Nadia found her great
love football. As they say it in Denmark, you're young,
(07:46):
you don't understand the language, you're curious, and suddenly you
go from being you know, locked up inside the house
and not allowed to go outside because of dangerous you
can be kidnapped or you're gonna be killed, to suddenly
actually be allowed to be a kid. We were like
this group of kids that always hang out and you know,
try to try to figure out what's happening around the camp.
(08:07):
It was my two sisters, my older sister and my
losses Adiana, and then there were like three or four
other kids from the refugee camp. We spoke different languages, Arabic, Armenian, Bosnian.
But our communication was like sign language at the beginning,
I guess, and then later on some Danish words, some
(08:28):
English word we could like communicate without actually communicating with
a language, you know what I mean. We just mixed
everything that we kind of knew and it worked. From
nine to one I was in school, and then from
nine to midnight I was outside every day. I always say,
it's fate. The camp was located just beside a football club.
(08:51):
We just got really quickly the football fields, the football fields,
and then refugee camp was divided by some for a
like thing, and then there was a sense at the
beginning we were always outside the fence watching. That was
the first time I saw a girl playing football, a
goal team playing football, and I described it as like
you know when you're struck by by the lightning and
(09:12):
then you have you hear angels, you know, the light
I thought it was very very cool to see a
girl playing the way she was playing, and I was like, wow,
I really want to be that person. I wanted so
badly to learn how to play football. We didn't really
had a football or the boots or anything, but what
we had was the passion and the love for the game.
(09:35):
So we used to just like run around after this
Dutch ball and everyone was playing. Everyone with time, we
figure out how to get around the fence and be
on the field. Then we were like really far away
from the fields and just like looking and as time
passed by, you get more courage because you're like, oh,
(09:56):
they've seen me and and they haven't really reacted and
like hostile away, so you get a bit closer. So
at the end, I was literally on the like field
and when they had shooting drills, the ball which sometimes
you know, not hit the goal and go over, so
then I'll be running off the ball and then bring
it back to them. But then once I figure out,
(10:17):
you know that some of the balls were never found,
I was like, maybe there's other balls that we can find.
Let's go. So the group and I we took some
of these plastic trash bags and then we just went
from A to Z, like from one side to the
other because it was like really dense forests. And you
know how many balls we discovered, twenty three balls. I
(10:41):
wasn't shock, everyone wasn't shot. We were so hyped about it.
You know, some of them were you could tell they've
been there for like years, very deflated an old balls,
like you know, but some of the other ones like
really really new one, and you know how expensive balls are.
At that point, you're like this nice. So we went
with all the balls back to the club and we're like,
(11:03):
so these are the balls that we found. You know,
we just showed them the guy he took the new ones,
but let us have the old ones. We were still
super excited, you know, like, oh my god, we have
so many balls. And then we went to this nearest
tank station because we didn't have a ball pump um
and I remember one person is holding a really tight
(11:23):
and the other is like pushing the plus to to
try to get some end the balls, you know, the
car pumps, the big ones. It was. It was a
good day. It was a good day. So as soon
as you know, the football became a thing, it was
a competition, so everyone was like trying to figure out
who's like the best player in the campaign. And I
(11:44):
remember our at the beginning. One of the things that
was really big was the juggling competition to see how
many juggles you can take. Remember at the beginning, I
was like one, two, three, seven, and then I was
stuck to seven for a long time, and then I
went like around seventeen or whatever. But there was one
I think he was really good and then he was
juggling with one ft but he could keep it off
(12:05):
for a really long time. I think fifty six. This
was something that was annoying me because I was like, oh,
it can't be better than me. And I used to
every day just like use hours and hours to control
this ball. I remember the day I beat him and
I'm like, already, let's go, guys. And I started to
(12:25):
keep him up and I was like, okay, I just
beat my own record. I remember reaching to fifty six
and then my last touch was really bad. I was like, oh,
I cannot tie with this guy. So I'm just like
I thrown myself to hit the ball last time. And
then while I was doing this, I smashed my hand
or my finger, so I was really injured with my
(12:46):
and my tongue. But it didn't really matter because I
was the champ of the camp at that point and
everyone was like, oh my god, no, you just got
fifty seven. I'm like, yeah, that's me, guys. The thing
that I really loved about playing football was that you
could see progress so fast. Like as I said, I
started taking three juggles and then same day I could
(13:08):
I was up on seven. So like this thing that
you felt, oh, you were accomplishing something day by day
as hour went by, it was I don't know, made
me happy and it was very satisfying. It still is
and and and you know this obsession that I had
with it was going somewhere. I could see that, oh
(13:29):
I want to learn this trick that I saw. If
I stood there for eight nine hours, I'll actually at
the end get it. And then you're like, oh my god,
I just did it. And then you know your your
excitement grew and you kept going for hours again. After
a couple of months, I gathered my courage and when
then asked the coach if I could be a part
(13:50):
of the team. I'm a person with a lot of confidence.
I've always been this way. But I remember I was very,
very very nervous, first of all because I didn't know
what to say. Secondly because I was scared that he
was saying no. I just went and pointed at myself
first and then on the field, and then I was
like this okay, and the guy I was like, yeah,
(14:10):
it just, you know, not his head. That's why I
love football so much, because you don't really need to
like no, the language he could see in my eyes also,
you know, the excitement and then the hope, I guess,
and he just smiled and nod at me like yeah,
and then I looked at him. I was like almostn't
sure because I didn't believe that would be that easy.
(14:33):
But lucky for me, he was a really nice person
and he gave me a chance to be a part
of the team and be able to be a kid,
I guess. So I'm still grateful for that, and I
think that's the day my life changed. I felt accepted
right away. One of my first trainings, you're doing the
(14:55):
warm up and you're like, oh, I've never seen this
exercises before, just like normal warm ups because I've never
done it, you know, I'm like, Okay, knees up, and
you're trying to copy and and trying to adapt. I
trained with him a couple of weeks, and then one
day he came. He gave me this little note saying
game Saturday twelve a m at here and I was
(15:19):
about to like explode of happiness. Obviously. I ran to
my mom and told her I needed kleats because it's
my first game. I need to have football boots because
so far I've been training with I don't know, just
like normal shoes. And she didn't really have a lot
of money, but she was like, okay, fair enough, let's
go to the local second hand store. And I think
(15:41):
somehow we found these really old, old, old And when
I say old, like old from ancient football shoes, you know.
They were too small. I had the biggest blisters, but
I didn't really care. And I remember sleeping and then
the first night because someone had told me, if you
shower in them and then just have month for a
really long time, they're gonna expand. So I remember showering
(16:04):
in them in really hot water and then just having
the month, the entire night to see if they're gonna
fit better tomorrow. They didn't really do that, but I
should have kept those shoes. I think they would be
like a lot of money. We're right now, because they
were like from the forties. So we when left refugee camp,
(16:25):
we were still in the nerly part of Denmark, in
this little actually really nice place called Grayby. It was
calm and like environment, very safe, good people. My first
school day was sixth grade. I was the first kid
who looked different in our school than all the other
Danish ones. So everyone was like excited and super nice
(16:48):
and curious. There's also some apples on the schoolyard, but
but most of them was really nice. Um and everyone
had heard that, you know the kids from refugee camp
who plays football, and uh, they've told him she was
very smart. And at this point I don't I didn't
really knew the language, you know, crazy, because I've literally
(17:08):
been there for seven eight months. We didn't have a
lot of money. We were actually really poor. I remember,
you know, my coach at a refugee camp that his
daughter was gonna start in a bigger team in be
towards US, which means B fifty two. And he was like,
na ya, you guys should come for a trial, you know,
because it's a bigger team and you're gonna play eleven
(17:30):
aside now because we used to play seven aside. And
it's like Cecily, who was his daughter, and he was
the first kid that I saw playing football first. The
girl it's going to also be there. So we begged
my mom to let us go, and she was like
not really, not having it because we had to buy
from our house to the train station, take a train,
(17:51):
and then take a bus to training and then all
the way back. Taking the train costs money, taking the
bus costs money, and I don't have the money for
you guys every week to go through three times there.
So the first day we went and it was amazing.
It went really well, and I remember the coach has
been super excited and he was like, I really want
you guys. We said, well, we want also, but unfortunately
(18:13):
my mom doesn't have the money and we can't afford it.
This is a lot of money to take the bus
and the train, and I remember the coach were like, okay,
let me see what I can do. And then when
he came to tell my mom that the club could
pay for our train tickets, my mom really didn't have
any excuses. Her excuse was what about the school that
(18:33):
So we promised her to do really well in school
if she let us go. So I used to take
my you know, school books and stuff in the train
and the bus uh to do homework afterwards, so my
mom would never have anything to complain about. And she
let us play football. Nadia and her sister Diana also
(18:56):
found time to work a job. They got a paper
route delivering new papers, leaving the house at five every morning.
So me and Diana, even even though we were really
young and we're not allowed to work, we started working
with newspaper. It started really slow, and then later on
we got like more and more and I loved it.
We had this tradition that every Friday we used to
(19:19):
go and have ice cream, just because you know, we
have the money to have ice cream once a week,
and we loved it sitting there having like five six
scoops of ice cream, just even though we couldn't eat it.
Then you start freezing. Your tongue used to like be
numb because it was too cold, but like the feeling
of you can do it was amazing. I don't know.
(19:41):
We used to help my mom with her you know,
give some of our salary to my mom. We used
to be able to buy shoes. Remember the first thing
we bought was like roller blades, and then slowly kind
of worked our ways up to bicycles, and then later
on we got our first scooter computer, you know. So
it was like it would just feel of you know,
achieving things. And at the same time our roots got
(20:03):
bigger and bigger. Because you now have a bicycle, now
you have a scooter, you can have like bigger routes.
So we used to wake up around three am and
then just like go five hours until eight am, and
then the day would be finished by me and her
going and buying this like huge cake, splicing it to
have some green tea. I'll be like a lot of
this life. And then after that going to game. Not
(20:27):
the best way, but hey, me and Jana we played
for a really long time. Here's Diana's memory of the
typical routine. I was really bad at a soccer and
she was like, if you want this, I'm going to
teach you, but you need to listen. We was watching
this movie is like Karate Kid, you know we see
most of and the Karate Kid, and she was basically
(20:51):
training me all the time that I used to watch
Oliver con videos, you know, the German Keeper anybody, and
I used to force her to do the same thing.
When she was like, oh this hurts, I was like, dude,
if you want to be like her, and she was
like okay, And I used to like punish her if
she didn't do right, So I would kick the ball
at five times for her to get it. And she
(21:12):
actually was very very good, seriously, probably one of the
best keepers I've ever played against still today. When I
was younger, I had a lot of temper and and
and you know, I always spoke my mind, and I
used to get a lot of red cars, not because
of files or anything, just because I used to argue
with the reft when I was like, this is unfair.
I was like, why why are you doing this? And
(21:34):
they used to give me a red card for it.
But I've I've I've learned to control my temper. I
remember one of my coaches telling me that I should
use my temper too, to run more or tackle harder.
You know, I hit the ball harder and stuff like
using my mouth. So that's something that I've worked on.
But still sometimes I get in the red zone and
(21:54):
I'm about to explode. But I've I've learned to channel it.
As for Diana, she found her own way to channel
her red zone. She said to me, as a keeper,
you can have the best game of your life and
you still can lose one zero. It doesn't matter what
you do. If attacker didn't score and they somehow have
a hundred chances and you save ninety nine of them,
(22:16):
one is going to go in. So she hated this
feeling of not being in charge, so she started boxing.
Here's Deanna for me personally, if I didn't have the boxing,
I think it will I will have a different character.
I can be very aggressive and I've just learned how
to handle it. She was so good. I remember her
(22:39):
first fight. We were there and I knew it was
like a tournament whereas a lot of boxes, and we
didn't knew what time she's gonna be so I was
there super early. I was there like around ten and
her fight was like around six pm. It just lasted well,
less than twenty seconds. Knock at her opponent, the first
person she was boxing against, knocked at her. She won
(23:15):
her first five man That's insane. See, I was like
happy and disappointed. I was like, what, I'm waited so
many hours and just twenty seconds? What is this? But yeah,
she is a beast. She won the Danish championship like
(23:35):
seven years in a row. She went to China to
qualify for the Olympics, but had a lot of health
issue as well. She was diagnosed with a tumor, benign
tumor on her brain, which her medicine that she was
taken was very, very very hard on her body. So
(23:56):
she was, you know, feeling sick a lot, losing hair,
and she also went through like a lot of kimu.
I was like, oh my god, I have a tumor.
I'm gonna die. But they checked it. It's not a
dangerous tumor, but it's there, you know. Then I was like,
I'm really tired. I'm always tired. I want to sleep
(24:16):
all the time. Imagine yourself you have like a Ferrari engine,
and then changed that to I go you know I'm saying,
and it was difficult for me. So at this point,
she was like training twice a day. Um. So she's
like a badass. And she called me before the fight
(24:38):
and she's like, oh, I'm feeling so tired now. Yeah,
I'm like that sucks. She's like, oh, I don't I
don't know what's happening in my body. I was like, oh, dude,
it's okay. The thing and you know, I know, I
don't know what I'm crying. It is just because I
know how hard it is too well, something so badly,
(25:01):
and then there's obstacles in your way. I never tell
her the stuff because you know, you don't want to
be like, oh, it's it's hard for you. I never
say this. I've never said it to her. I always say,
get you together. But I know it's it's hard, you know,
because imagine you train, oh, your life to be somewhere
(25:24):
and then you She was like, I'm feeling so sick.
I have a fight, like in four hours, and she
was poking, and I know it was because of her medicine.
And I kept telling her, do you got this? They
cannot do you know, like you it's even though you
were there with one army, still gonna win. Um so yeah.
(25:46):
So but unfortunately she didn't go by because she she
was like, I couldn't I couldn't even walk. And there
was a big blow. You know, I was fighting and
I was winning the any championships. But two thousand thirteen,
it just it was growing. So I had some issues.
(26:06):
Then I took a break, and they were afraid of
that I could get blind or something like that. I
got to Sweden, I got to treatment every day with
my mom. The tumorous stopped growing, and then I just
started slowly doing my training again. It's tough to make
a comeback if you've been away for so long time.
(26:27):
I want to take a step by step. Recent issue
has been here. Nadia and was training together and she
was on my case all the time, trash talking each other.
That's there is a part of it, you know, have
been that since we were child, but a good way,
in a competitive way. I just decided, you know what,
(26:48):
this disease is there or not, I'm just gonna keep
doing my thing. I'm a fighter. Nothing would make me
more happy to being in shape and just be healthy.
People that they just don't realize that sometimes, you know,
until you get sick and then you're like, okay, I
don't want nothing. I just want to be okay. She's
(27:11):
a fighter, and I can tell uh it hasn't been
easy for her. But I never said this thought to
her again because we have this mindset and our family
like it could be always worse. It could be so
much worse. You can walk and you can breathe um,
so anything is possible. On the other hand, I can
(27:32):
also tell that she's so passionate about it, so I
cannot tell her not to do it because if someone
told me, not you, I don't play football because if
this is this, I'll be like, shut up, I'll still
keep going, you know. So it's a balance. And as
I said, she's a fighter in real life. Also, as
long as you keep fighting, you find a way. It
(27:54):
took me seven years, but as long as you keep
coming again and keep coming again, you now you will
find away. The entire family of women knows how to fight.
Their mom raised five girls in an unfamiliar country. Here's Diana.
But my mom she was a really you know, strong woman,
and she was like, look at the glass half full,
(28:16):
don't see the emptiness and it so tould like you
guys have this opportunity people would dream about in India
and Afghanistan or whatever, do something about. That's what That's
what we did, you know. And their aunt is a
fighter too. So my aunt Arianna said, is this super
(28:38):
super famous, most famous Afgant singer pop singer. She is
the Afghant Beyonce. How would call her? Don't like literally
people cry when they see her. I've experienced as I
was an instan bull and she snapped something that she
was people were chasing her and then they saw her
(29:00):
and they're like. Everyone was like just crying. I was like, okay,
come that. You know. I imagine being an artist in
the country like Afghanistan, where where females are not allowed
to have a voice. She has been defying all these
things and trying to fight for women's right in Afghanistan,
trying to tell women that it's okay to have a voice.
(29:23):
She puts her life in danger by doing so, so
I know for a fact sometimes when she's Afghanistan, there's
scars sent out to try to find her car to
kill her. My name is Ariana said. I am a
singer and a woman's rights activists from Afghanistan. I left
Afghanistan at the age of eight when we had to
(29:44):
flee the country because of the war. I've been living
in the UK since two thousand and I went back
to Afghanistan in two thousand and eleven as I was
invited by a big TV to do a concert. When
I went back act for this concert, I I just
fell in love with the country all over again, with
the people over the country, with the culture and everything,
(30:08):
and I decided to to stay in Afghanistan and give back.
During her ten years in Afghanistan, Ariana was a judge
on big TV shows like The Voice of Afghanistan and
Afghan Superstar. It was not easy for me to to
live in Afghanistan and work from there because because of
(30:28):
what I stand for, because of the fact that I'm
a singer, because of the fact that i stand for
women's rights. I mean, talabandon liked me, priests, the extreme
minded society that we have in Afghanistan. I was a
target and I was getting threats all the time. But
the fact that I could change so much, it was
fulfilling as a human being, as a as a woman,
(30:49):
as somebody you know who stands for for humanity and
for freedom. The Taliban is on a major offensive, capturing
around one fifty Afghan military outposts in the last two months.
We had to basically escape the takeover Taler and everything.
It was such a nightmare's It was so scary that
(31:11):
now I'm sitting here thinking about it, I feel I
still feel like it was either a dream or it
was a movie or something like that. And of course,
as I said, I was already a target of Taliban
past few years, and now them taking the entire city
and me being in the city was something crazy, you know,
and if they captured me, I don't know, they would
(31:31):
have probably instantly killed me, or I don't know what
they would have done to me. I have no idea.
When they got to Coble and I got stuck at
the airport, and I was actually booked on a flight
to leave the day they took over. Unfortunately, when they
got to the city, our flight got canceled because that
plane was filled with thousands of people inside it, and
(31:54):
the pilots run away, and the security guards at the airplane,
everybody run away, and there was chaos, and I was
stuck there at the airport, thinking, oh my god, what
am I going to do? And by that time we
know that Taliban are like right outside the airport and
they can come anytime. Eventually, we were rescued by American
soldiers and they got us out of Afghanistan, whether with
(32:17):
that army plane. Her passion for her country has led
Ariana to speak before NATO and the European Parliament to
bring attention to the fate of her fellow Afghan women
since the US withdrawal. When America came to our country,
they claimed that you know, they will get rid of
al Qaeda, and they will get rid of terrorists and
(32:38):
things like that. And twenty years we thrived and we
worked so hard, you know, and we achieved so much.
And these women. We had women working in the parliament,
we had women working in the offices, and now by
the return of Taliban, we have lost everything that we're
back to zero. My own clothing brand, we had a
(33:00):
beautiful store in Couple City for about one month only
and this is when unfortunately Taliban took over again. When
they came, we had to unfortunately shut down the store,
all the team, the women. We had about twenty two
people working for me at that time. And unfortunately, all
those women, all the employees, everybody they have, they have
(33:23):
to just set at home and they have no jobs anymore,
and not even food to eat because you know, of
the Taliban and everything that happened. Unfortunately, Taliban are not
allowing women to work or to study, or they're not
even allowed to go outside without the presence of a man.
Here's the thing, one message I want to give out
(33:45):
to all those women is to fight on and not
give up. Proud of having heared my family and everyone
is very proud of what she's doing because it's it's
new in Afghanistan. She's a symbole, symbol of freedom. I
think she is a symbol of what women can achieve
if they want to, even though it's I would say,
(34:07):
as a dangerous, dangerous job. I think she inspired me
to go after the goals that I want, even though
they seemed very hard or there's gonna be obstacles surrounded.
And if you ask Arianna, she'll tell you her nieces
inspire her too. All of them defy expectations, even if
(34:31):
their chosen professions are just a touch different from their aunts.
I've never been to boxing matches before, and this was
the first night. Only went because of Dianna, And by
the time the five fundition, I was so exhausted and
my voice had gone because I had screamed so much
out of your own like excitement and calling her name
(34:51):
and everything, and it was so scary to me. I
said to her, I will never ever come back to
your fight again, because this was way too bad for me.
And of course she's my niece. I wanted her to
to win the fight, and everything which she did then
my entire family we were there, we celebrated, was beautiful,
but never again. Arianna has also gone to support Nadia,
(35:14):
who became a star of the Danish national team, something
that was really beautiful. When she finished the game and
we came out of the stadium, there was like a
long group of children waiting for her for them to
just sign you know, like give her signature. I was
like wow. I was like, I felt so proud. It
was really cool, like her aunt pursuing one girl who
(35:40):
wasn't enough. For Nadia, her dreams extend beyond the field,
you know. I saw this film of Tom Cruise where
he was a lawyer, and I was like, Oh, that
looks pretty cool. I want to be a lawyer. And
then I did internshipping in this law company for a
couple of months, and I felt it was really boring
and it was not the way I imagined or the
way it is in the movies. And then I was like, nah,
(36:02):
this is not me. And at a certain point I
wanted to work in Wall Street again because of the money,
and I was like, nah, this is not me. My
mom was always she wanted to be a doctor when
she was younger, but she got married and life came
and she didn't really achieve her goal or her dream.
So she always said to us that she would love
(36:23):
to see one of us as a doctor, and I
hated that out, like, I'm not gonna do your dream.
It's your dream, is not mine. So she always used
to tell me, but you're very smart. You could be
a good doctor, and I'm like, yeah, but I don't
want to because it's your dream. And I remember when
I was a nine grade we had this one week
where you get to go and have working experience. I
(36:46):
chose this private hospital because it was closer our home
and I got to sleep in so I didn't have
to wake up super early. So I was like, you know,
one week, I'm gonna sleep in and I'm gonna easy life.
But when I was there. While I was there, I
thought it was very interesting. This guy plastic surgeon was
doing everything from cosmetic to reconstruction. I was like, wow,
(37:10):
this is so cool. I had really good grades and
then Denmark High. Your grades are the more doors are
open for you, so I could literally choose anything I
wanted to any university. And when the day came and
I had to apply, you have three choices and then
three universities, so you're gonna choose. My first priority is
(37:30):
this second disc, third disk, so if you don't get
in in the first, you're gonna go second. If you
don't get second, third and so on. And I remember
I was like, I'm just gonna medicine first thing. That's
the only thing I wrote. I was like, medicine and
where all his university send it in. A couple of
weeks later, I got the let us saying I was accepted.
(37:53):
So I remember not telling my mom that I had
applied for med school because I wanted to tell her
that it's my decision, not because you wanted me to.
I told my mom Ike got in a finance and
she was like, oh, I'm very happy for you, but
like half hearted. But why when I started first semesterisly
I told my mom that I was accepted in med
school and she was like super excited. And after first
(38:17):
semester I knew I had made the right decision because
I love everything about it. I really enjoyed this feeling
that you get like operation rooms. I get the same
Madrellan and when you're scoring a goal. I love this.
I wouldn't say power, but I don't know this feeling
of that you have such a huge responsibility in your hands.
(38:37):
I love that I love that you can have a
huge impact on people's daily lives. When you walk in
the like corridors of a hospital and you see all
the guy and you just smiled to him, you can
immediately see the change in his face, you know, and
I don't know. I love that feeling, and I love
the fact that you, a certain situations are the last
(38:58):
person that can help these people. But when you're trying
to qualify as a doctor and be a professional athlete,
it's a punishing schedule. You know, you can never learn enough.
And every day it's a zoom and it's eight am
Danish time, so I wake up at two am to
attend my school. It's it's the passion that I have.
(39:19):
And if you want to achieve your goals, you have
to work hard for it. And I just don't say
this to say it. I actually work very hard for
everything that I do. Everything I have. My oldest sisters
is a doctor right now working at a pediatric department
in Denmark. My two youngest sister or nurses. I don't
know why we all ended up in, you know, this
(39:40):
same field. I think the reason is that we really
want to help people. I think I speak on my behalf.
But I think also probably similar views is that you
know the importance of having help with the people given
us through our lives, you know has meant a lot,
and you wanted to do the same thing for others.
(40:04):
My dream or my goal is one day for us
to have a clinic together somewhere then the deams. I
want to think of my father. It's something that my
mom tells me a lot of time, which is funny.
She says to me, especially me and Diana, we remind
a lot of him, just the way we are. I
(40:25):
think the way I think she told me one day
because I've been athletic and lookwise, also looking like my
dad a bit. It's just she says, the character very,
very determined and and then strong headed stubb And I
would say, even like years went by and I sometimes
(40:48):
I felt I saw him, and I'll be like, is
that him? So I always had this feeling he somehows
survived or he is somewhere instill in Afghanistan, or maybe
he escaped from Afghanistan because he had to you and
he's in a different country and one day he's gonna
come and be like, hey, guys, I had to do this,
so it was weird. For a really long time, I
(41:09):
felt like I saw in places and I used to
dream of him a lot, which is I think normal.
And and I remember when I was doing my biography
with with the Danish writer Um that she explained explained
(41:35):
me that there's just like a coping because the mechanism
that you that it's a normal thing that you that's
how you cope with it. Um that for a really
long time you still feel that they're there. So now
I don't anymore. It's weird. I've told it had a
(42:00):
really a time, but sometimes it gets to me. M. Yeah,
the life if I was as stayed in Afghanistan would
be probably very very different, if we would be a life.
You know, I think as a girl, you're not really
allowed to do anything and not even allowed to go
to school, which I thought it was stupid. So also
(42:23):
when I think of how my character is, how stubborn
I am with certain stuff, I would have found it
extremely hard to to just a bow down, and you
know that's just not in my DNA. So I don't
think I would been of a life anyways. You know,
(42:44):
now I've been talking of my dad being just like
super intelligent, and you know, and really stubborn. I think
my mom is even stronger. I think she's one of
the strongest people I've ever met. She is tiny, um,
so I get surprised sometimes I'm like, well, how's that possible.
And one of the things that I've i know, I've
(43:05):
got from a moment I love about her is that
she does not take, i know, for an answer if
she really wants something. At times it's annoying, You're like, oh,
come on, man, just can you not just not do it?
She's like no, And I love that. You know, it
takes a lot of courage and a lot of energy
to be that way. Um. But she always follows what
(43:28):
she wants and I think that's really something that I admire.
And she's very intelligent, you know, I think, a very
open minded and adapts easily. I feel she was the
person who gave us a second chance. My mom was
young when my dad died. A lot of women in
(43:50):
her position, I know, because a lot of women went
through the same thing. They were remarried, and my mom
there were a lot of people after her. She could
have done that and you know, almost give up on
her us because if she got married, we haven't been
treated well, that's for sure, and probably arranged marriages super
(44:12):
early to get rid of you know. UM. So she
didn't want that. She wants us to go to school,
study and become something. So she chose us and that's
something that UM always going to be grateful. That's one
of the reasons I'm so outspoken when it comes to
my life story and the struggles. I think it just
shows that you can be in a really dark place
(44:34):
and then and you can get out of it. The
most important thing, and this is that you should never
lose hope. I think humans are capable of a lot
more than you we actually think we are. It doesn't
really matter if you're a refugee or anyone, because everyone
has their own struggles. You always have to believe this
(44:55):
possible to to change your situation. And you know, I
think the day that I and have holebar, I lose
this feeling of that there's nothing I can do, is
probably there that I want to die. I know it
sounds really extreme, but that's also very important for me.
Nadia has played for professional teams around the world. In
(45:16):
she led Parry Saint Germain to their first Division One
title in history, scoring eighteen goals in twenty seven games.
Now she plays for nws LS Racing Louisville FC. She's
just returning to the field after six months out with
an a c L tear. Her first practice back, her
teammates formed a mini tunnel, giving her high fives, cheering
(45:38):
as she ran victoriously out to training. After practice is over,
she often still juggles the way she did when she
was a kid, remaining on the field with three or
four other players seeing how long they can keep the
ball up and when things go awry, when the ball
gets away from them, Nadia is on the sprint splaying
out her laughter ringing across the wide beautiful field. I'm
(46:04):
Hannah Waddingham and this is Hustle Rule. Join us for
our next episode. Brazil's number ten. Cry in the beginning
and smile in the end. Staff for Noel Bad. Hustle
(46:28):
Rule is a production of Waffle Iron Entertainment, Range Media Partners,
Observatory Audio, UP Media and I Heart Radio, written and
directed by Gwendolyn oxen Um, hosted by me Hannah wadding Um,
and is based on the book Under the Lights and
in the Dark, written by Gwendolyn oxen Um. The executive
producers are Justin Biskun from Waffle Iron Entertainment, Bob Alligan
(46:49):
from Range Media Partners, and Sean Titan from I Heart Radio.
Co written by Ruth Hilton, Produced by Gwendolyn oxen Um,
Ruth Hilton and Jordana Glick Franszheim, co produced by Jimmy
Jelinek and Jared Goodstadt, Edited by Carry Caulfield, Eric sound
design and mixing by Jeremiah's Immerman. Music by Jeff Peters
and Bill mart Theme song performed by a one Laflair.
(47:12):
You'll find more podcasts from I Heeart Radio on the
I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. Goodbody
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