The Afghan soccer captain who changed their destiny

In 2011, she decided to flee Afghanistan to escape the danger she was in due to her advocacy for equality, freedom and empowerment of women in Afghanistan, spending three years on her own between India, Norway and finally Denmark, where she lived in a refugee camp for a year until she was granted residency. In 2014, she founded Girl Power based on her experiences in refugee centers.

She realized that sports activities could bring new energy and life to refugee women, providing networking opportunities, a sense of belonging, and a distraction from their difficult situations. In 2016, Girl Power officially registered to use sport, specifically football, and leadership programs as tools for inclusion and empowerment for refugee and asylum-seeking women, as well as immigrants and migrants from minority communities. Since then, the non-profit organization has expanded its activities to Germany, Greece, Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan and the UK, where it works with displaced women from Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Iraq and Iran, among other countries.