Imagine. During an armed conflict, you are tied to a tree, which makes it impossible for you to escape violence. You see death hanging on the shoulders of angry men in the form of a rifle. Your heart is racing, and you fear for your life. Nematullah Ahangosh comes from Afghanistan and is now unable to return to his family and his home country, a country that is now ruled by the Taliban. He is physically disabled. He says, “We, the disabled, face this situation of being helpless daily in countries going through civil war, earthquakes, storms and floods. Wherever there is a crisis, we have only limited possibilities. We can duck down, hide and might be forgotten. This must change; we have to survive by taking our safety into our own hands.”
Therefore, he is going to start “Stretch More”, a mobile empowerment parkour in which the disabled can empower themselves through survival skills, entrepreneurship, leadership and sports activities.
We are here, Just in Case You Forgot about Us.
In Summer 2021, Afghanistan was everywhere in the news, in all the global news outlets, but what do we know about the disabled of this country, especially those who have physical, mental, or sensory disabilities?
Well, we can hide and try to escape, but the feeling of dependency is still there. We slowly but steadily turn into ghosts, trying to vanish as if we never existed. In chaotic situations, our dignity is jeopardized because we realize that we become a burden. We feel neglected. This feeling remains even after the crises are over. Integration into the mainstream seems impossible, and this is due to intolerance from our surroundings, partly caused by daily chaos.
It was a hot summer day in Kabul. I was just 13 years old. I didn’t sell enough on the streets and had no money to buy food for my family. When I passed by the small restaurants, I smelled fine Afghan Kebabs. I was hungry, tired and had a long way to walk before I could reach home.
I asked myself, why was I so slow? For a long time, I didn’t know the answer, until I realized that people were making fun of me, saying that my walking seemed like dancing. My uncle never let me ride his donkey because he didn’t have confidence in my motor skills. I convinced him and then found myself on the donkey. I was excited. My oldest cousin took the whip and hit the animal’s rump. The poor donkey started speeding up, and I was enjoying it. My cousins were ready to watch the drama. They thought that I would fear galloping. But I did not. He landed another forceful whip on the poor creature. Now it got wild. I gripped the saddle tightly. Only now had I become scared. It was all going well until the animal jumped over a stream. I lost my balance and felt weightless for a moment. My chest tightened up; I couldn’t scream. With nothing beneath me, the neighing of the donkey was the last thing I heard. Before landing, I saw the vivid blue sky and a fluffy cloud hanging above me; the village was serene. I felt deaf and could hardly hear the laughter of my cousins. When my back hit the ground, everything went black. I opened my eyes and felt excruciating pain. On the horizon, I could only see the white tail, the saddle and could hear the hooves. I felt relieved when I saw my cousins running towards me. I shouted that I was all right. They kept running and went past me. Apparently, they were running to catch their donkey!
Like any other teenager, I wanted to be involved in football games. But no one wanted me in their team. Since I was stubborn, they accepted me as a goalkeeper, but that didn’t work out. How I wished to belong!
Living in a war-torn country, what would I have done if I had to escape violence? I don’t know the answer. I lived in the capital, which was rather safe. But as far as I can imagine, I wouldn’t have been able to escape.
It got worse after realizing that these limitations were going to be part of me forever. It was only in 2016 that I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, a rare disability that weakens muscles over time. A neurologist told me that there was no cure and that I should learn swimming to slow down its progress.
In Kabul, I visited swimming pools and approached trainers. They couldn’t imagine that I would be able to learn swimming, so they refused to teach me.
During my college days in Chennai, India, I used to go to a beach. There I was hit by a wave, and I lost my balance. I fell and the waves pushed me down. It felt as if I was drowning. Luckily, my friend pulled me back to the shore. After that, I didn’t want to be near water, no matter how bad I wanted to learn to swim.
But it was just a little while later that I had a second try. It was at the banks of the Vellayani Lake in the kanthari campus in Kerala. Everybody tried to get me into the water. Five minutes in, and I wanted to get out. Sabriye Tenberken, the co-founder of kanthari, who is fully blind and a good swimmer, said: “If you don’t overcome your fear now, you will never be able to do so”.
Within a week, I learned floating and backstroke. I realized that, in the water, we were equal, disabled or not. Now I want to empower persons with disabilities, especially those who must rescue themselves in times of crises. I want the disabled to stretch more, to reach their desired life, and to survive. The journey might be bumpy, but the outcome is always enriching. Thus, I plan to create a mobile empowerment parkour where we will try to solve these problems that occur during and after man-made and natural calamities.
The disabled who will run these activities will be chosen because they have survived torture, hunger, bomb blasts, floods, fire, storms and earthquakes. To prevent us, persons with disabilities, getting left behind during crises, we need to empower ourselves through sports activities, entrepreneurship, survival skills and leadership training. “Stretch More” will be the name of this mobile empowerment parkour which will provide a journey with a life-lasting impact.
NOTE THE DATES: on the 17th and 18th of December 2021:
Nematullah as well as 15 other kantharis will share their personal journeys and solutions for social issues that have affected them, with the public during kanthari TALKS. Nematullah will be speaking in the session about Peace and Empowerment on the 18th of December.
More details about him and the other speakers and the timings of the event that will be live streamed, can be found on http://www.kantharitalks.org/
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