THE STORY

War. Conflict. Limited access to education, jobs, never mind sports. This is a typical story for much of Afghanistan's young generation. For them, there's very little respite from the pressures of life in a warzone, and few opportunities to carve out their own destiny.

When I visited Afghanistan in March 2021, I met a small community of young people dedicated to changing this story. Among them are Sajjad and Alishah, who manage a local skiing club aiming to bring winter sports to the girls and boys of Bamyan.

And there's Nazima, a young female athlete passionate about skiing, who fights every single day against social pressures that try to prevent her from doing skiing - only because she's a girl. And she's still lucky: most girls her age in Afghanistan are barely allowed to leave the house, let alone do sports. You can watch my film about Nazima here:

WHAT THIS FUNDRAISER WILL ACCOMPLISH:

This fundraiser will help Afghan youth in several different ways. Funds will be allocated to:

• Building a motor ski lift in the 2021/22 season for young Afghan girls and boys to learn skiing. (A motor ski lift is the only way for them to get up the mountain, as there's no other infrastructure).

• Enrolling new students to the ski school, as a way to help them build social skills, outdoors confidence and the ability to do sports. Money is needed for sourcing and fixing equipment, transport to the mountain area, basic meals during the day, modest fees for the instructors and their time.

• Collecting funds for Nazima's university scholarship abroad, which would enable her to get an international education and, as a talented Afghan athlete, develop her athletic skills on a higher level than what is currently possible in Afghanistan.

WHY YOU SHOULD CONTRIBUTE

Sports and getting outdoors are some of the only ways for young Afghans to build confidence, social experience and leadership skills, in a country that offers almost no infrastructure for young people. These are going to be the people building a new Afghanistan, which is a crucial task especially now, given the announcement of US troops' withdrawal from the country in 2021, and the interrupted peace talks with the Taliban.

Investing in and empowering young Afghans is one of the best ways to help a country that has been through endless political turmoil. They are the leaders of tomorrow.

MORE INFO

The motor ski lift in 2020:

(You can read more about it here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-6720991/Ski-lift-opens-Afghanistan-thats-powered-MOTORBIKE.html)

You can watch my film about Nazima here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b9klXEmTNqc

And here's a link to Daniel Etter's "Where the Light Shines", a full documentary about Alishah and Sajjad's quest to represent Afghanistan in the Winter Olympics: https://www.journeyman.tv/film/7638/where-the-light-shines