April 7 Guest Speaker, Afsana Nawrozi


Afsana speaking to Rotary (top) and on her bike (bottom)
Verde Valley School Junior, Afsana, aspires to be an elite cyclist. This is not an acceptable aspiration for a woman in Afghanistan. Afsana told her story of how she fought her family and Afghan tradition to become a member of a women's cycling team in Afghanistan. When the Taliban came to power, she had to leave Afghanistan and her family to continue her education and be a cyclist.
 
When Afsana was a child, she received a child's bicycle as a gift. She shared her bike with her brother. When the children outgrew a child's bike, her brother received a full-sized bike, but Afsana was told that she was too old to ride the bike anymore. Women cycling in Afghanistan endured taunts and insults from men and boys. Luckily the cyclist outfit helped to disguise that she was female. She was sent to school in Kabul, where she found a women's cycling group that she could join.
 
Afsana is a member of the new Interact Club at Verde Valley School. The Interact Club has plans to help make a difference for other refugees.
 
Afsana shows slides to illustrate what it was like to be a woman cyclist in Afghanistan.
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