The Bamyan cyclists founded and led the only women-led teams in Afghanistan. The women were scattered across the globe but most have been unable to get back on bikes. The captain needs support to study in the UK.
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Hi Everyone, Thanks to the digital publication of Kim Cross's article in Bicycling we have seen several donations come in, which is why I kept this open and extended the date and the goal. Kim and I were working on her story for almost 3 years, so once she knew this was going to publish, we wanted to make sure there was a way to build support for the cyclists, especially those from Bamyan that needed support. There are many. While Zahra, Zakia, and Reinhanna are getting the support they need thanks to the community built around them in Sweden and Germany with their evacuations and their high profiles, that is unusual. The majority of the cyclists, athletes, and human rights defenders are not as lucky. And if you have been following this story over the past three years, the evacuations have scattered the cyclists into ten different countries across Europe and North America. One is in Australia.
Most have not gotten the support they needed, and three years on, its much harder to continue to support, but as recently as October, I helped the captain of Oqab Bamyan cycling team finally get established in the UK at Dundee University. Sediqa rode with Zahra and Zakia, and she became the captain of the next generation team, I evacuated her team but she was finishing her last year of school in India at the time that the Taliban walked into Kabul. She was safe, but only for the school year. It took 3 years of uncertainty after she was dropped from the Italian evacuation list without warning, but she's now in the UK getting her second masters. Getting her airfare and visas paid for as well as temporary lodging covered were priority. She is completely on her own and has been since 2021.
Three other Hazara athletes, were resettled in Paris just before the Olympics this summer after two years of safeguarding in Pakistan. One was a para athlete wheelchair basketball player. They were abandoned by their parafederation, and the international para federation. They were also kicked off the Italian evacuation despite having been initially approved when I evacuated them out of Afghanistan. Luckily France stepped up and a humanitarian group was able to get them visas. Several incredible women in Nantes and Paris is connecting with them to build community.
A large group of cyclists played a key role in an abuse investigation during the evacuation, two are still left in Afghanistan despite having direct death threats by the President of the Afghan Cycling Federation - he has been found guilty after a 3 year investigation that I spearheaded with the help of a pro bono legal team with Hogan Lovells, and the plan is to support the remaining two cyclists - both from Bamyan - to find safety. One had their family home seized by the Taliban two weeks ago. UCI has been silent about this, despite the guilty verdict and their shielding of the abuser at UCI HQ.
Now that Bicycling Magazine has released the story about the Bamyan cycling revolution online, and is preparing to publish the print version in its magazine, I am hoping to keep the fundraiser open to support the broader group of Hazara cyclists and athletes that have needs due to their isolation or lack of resources.
One of the things you can do to help is share the story. To your friends and family and on social media. Thank you to those of you who recently donated and who may be new to this story.
Much appreciation,
Shannon
In 2013, two young women of Bamyan founded and went on to lead the first women-led cycling team in Afghanistan. This was the second women's cycling team in Afghanistan, and it stayed independent of the official sports federation to maintain its independence and remain led by women. The National Team in Kabul was led and controlled by men, and the Hazara minority that made up Bamyan province was creating something different. Zahra and Zakia created the team and the first races for women in Afghanistan's history. Reihanna and her teammates took it a step further, expanding the team, and earning places on the Afghan National Team.
When the Taliban rode into Bamyan, it was Zakia's younger sister who was riding on the National Team, and an entire generation of her peers were riding alongside her. They had formed an entirely new team by 2021, the Oqab team, which means Eagle in English. Captained by Sediqa Sediqi. Where once only a dozen young women had ridden bikes in tracksuits and headscarves, now teams rode in matching cycling kits and helmets, with sunglasses and bright red lipstick.
Across Afghanistan, there were over 200 registered riders with the Afghan Cycling Federation, not including independent teams like Bamyan's. A cycling revolution in Afghanistan abruptly ended on August 15, 2021, when the Taliban marched into Kabul. Yet, in the year-and-a-half evacuation of these women that followed, we all assumed they would find their way back onto bikes quickly. They had risked their lives and their honor to ride; they had been recognized by National Geographic Adventure and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, among many other press and media outlets, for their bravery on two wheels.
Yet, only a handful of women evacuated to Canada, the US, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and beyond can ride. Life as a refugee is much more difficult than life was for them in Afghanistan. Something rarely acknowledged in Western media. Financial difficulties, complex post-traumatic stress, racism, housing difficulties, language barriers, fear of their families back in Afghanistan living under the Taliban, and other concerns mean that many of them are unable to ride. Most do not have a bike. Many do not live in an area where they can safely do so. Others have both but are denied their racing licenses by their own Afghan Cycling Federation due to the ongoing abuse, discrimination, and corruption.
Until we can build a long-term program like the one I ran in Afghanistan for years to support women's cycling, we want to have a place to collect funds. Several women from the teams have requested support for bikes, travel stipends, visas, and other needs. A few examples:
1. Sediqa Seddiqi - former captain of the Oqab Team, secured a full scholarship at the University of Dundee in Scotland. We will cover her UK visa, £1600, her flight from India to Scotland, and additional costs to get to Dundee. We will also create a series of speaking events to raise more funds for living expenses in the UK and get her a bike. We have arranged to connect her with Aneela McKenna, a professional mountain bike guide in the Borders whose mother was Afghan/Pakistani, to introduce her to the trails when she is ready.
2. Tahera Shayagen—she was an original member of the Bamyan team and part of the original Afghan Cycles documentary film trailer. She was in Morocco studying at the time of the Taliban takeover. I evacuated her family, and they are resettled in North America. She is now in the US studying and would like to get back on a bike. I've reached out to Liv Cycling but to date have received no response.
3. The Oqab team in North America has been shattered and scattered by the way their resettlement was handled by the resettlement team that dropped them in the UAE and left. It took a heroic effort to get them out, but they were not kept together, and it was traumatizing for these young women who evacuated as a team but were unable to stay together as a team or train. A countercase is the football and basketball teams that were kept together, and they had a sisterhood to lean on and a team to develop. Cyclists have been scattered across the globe, teammates, cousins, and even sisters sent to different countries by men in power who made decisions on visas that did not know the cyclists then or care to know them now.
There are just a few of the ongoing stories, and until I can get my original nonprofit back up and running after it's pause for several years, this is our best way to support them — directly, case by case, just like we did in the evacuation.
The cycling community, as individuals, supported the evacuation of over 150 Afghans even as the cycling industry abandoned them. Let's work to change that through our connections and rebuild these lives back on bikes.
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Hi Everyone, Thanks to the digital publication of Kim Cross's article in Bicycling we have seen several donations come in, which is why I kept this open and extended the date and the goal. Kim and I were working on her story for almost 3 years, so once she knew this was going to publish, we wanted to make sure there was a way to build support for the cyclists, especially those from Bamyan that needed support. There are many. While Zahra, Zakia, and Reinhanna are getting the support they need thanks to the community built around them in Sweden and Germany with their evacuations and their high profiles, that is unusual. The majority of the cyclists, athletes, and human rights defenders are not as lucky. And if you have been following this story over the past three years, the evacuations have scattered the cyclists into ten different countries across Europe and North America. One is in Australia.
Most have not gotten the support they needed, and three years on, its much harder to continue to support, but as recently as October, I helped the captain of Oqab Bamyan cycling team finally get established in the UK at Dundee University. Sediqa rode with Zahra and Zakia, and she became the captain of the next generation team, I evacuated her team but she was finishing her last year of school in India at the time that the Taliban walked into Kabul. She was safe, but only for the school year. It took 3 years of uncertainty after she was dropped from the Italian evacuation list without warning, but she's now in the UK getting her second masters. Getting her airfare and visas paid for as well as temporary lodging covered were priority. She is completely on her own and has been since 2021.
Three other Hazara athletes, were resettled in Paris just before the Olympics this summer after two years of safeguarding in Pakistan. One was a para athlete wheelchair basketball player. They were abandoned by their parafederation, and the international para federation. They were also kicked off the Italian evacuation despite having been initially approved when I evacuated them out of Afghanistan. Luckily France stepped up and a humanitarian group was able to get them visas. Several incredible women in Nantes and Paris is connecting with them to build community.
A large group of cyclists played a key role in an abuse investigation during the evacuation, two are still left in Afghanistan despite having direct death threats by the President of the Afghan Cycling Federation - he has been found guilty after a 3 year investigation that I spearheaded with the help of a pro bono legal team with Hogan Lovells, and the plan is to support the remaining two cyclists - both from Bamyan - to find safety. One had their family home seized by the Taliban two weeks ago. UCI has been silent about this, despite the guilty verdict and their shielding of the abuser at UCI HQ.
Now that Bicycling Magazine has released the story about the Bamyan cycling revolution online, and is preparing to publish the print version in its magazine, I am hoping to keep the fundraiser open to support the broader group of Hazara cyclists and athletes that have needs due to their isolation or lack of resources.
One of the things you can do to help is share the story. To your friends and family and on social media. Thank you to those of you who recently donated and who may be new to this story.
Much appreciation,
Shannon
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Nov 14