**Fleeing war: sometimes it doesn't hurt**

Nadia Nadim: Born in Afghanistan on 2 January 1988, Nadia Nadim is currently a practising footballer and recently graduated as a medical surgeon several years ago.

This great woman with a very noble heart and with many dreams ahead of her, says that as a child she lived through several traumatic moments at that time.

She is an example to follow for all those women and little girls and boys who are currently fleeing their country because they are suffering from war.

Nadia says she survived a tough childhood in Afghanistan with her father, the Afghan National Army general who was killed by the Taliban when Nadia was 12 years old. Her mother decided to escape Afghanistan with her five daughters. They made their way to Pakistan by paying a smuggler and from there to Italy using false passports.

They hid in a lorry and their destination was to reach England. According to the lorry they were travelling in, it was supposed to leave them in England, but it turned out that it didn't, and ended up leaving them in Denmark.

Nadia says that she thought she had seen the big ben, but it turned out not to be true. Confused, she and her mother and her sisters got off the lorry and started a new life in that country, the most beautiful thing of all is that they were still alive and together as a family.

They were in a Nordic country and football became Nadia's great refuge. There, her family found asylum and she was able to develop her new-found passion for the game, something she had inherited from her father, who in his youth had been a player on his country's hockey team. The young Afghan girl, who had never seen a woman play sport, because in Afghanistan it was forbidden for a woman to play any sport. She began to witness the matches taking place near the refugee camp where she lived with her mother and sisters. One day she witnessed a girls' team training and at the age of 12, she understood that this was to be her destiny.

''I don't know if it makes sense to ask myself what would have happened if I had stayed in my country because the answer is too simple: with the war and with the regime.

The successful woman, who has many dreams to fulfil, says: "I would be alive if the Taliban were in power. She was also interviewed by a US media outlet.

I have one goal in life: I want to be the best at everything I do,'' she has said on more than one occasion, speaking more than nine languages fluently and with aspirations that go beyond football. In fact, she is finishing her medical studies and hopes to be able to practice in the future as a plastic surgeon. In 2019, she was also recognised by Unesco for her work in promoting sport and gender equality.

Although she has been out of Afghanistan for two decades, Nadia has not forgotten her origins.

Unfortunately, sometimes there are men or societies that take away their right to live or move forward.

This happens when there is the imposition of ambitious men or self-interested governments.

Missing the opportunity to explore or support talented people. This is when many of these people are forced to migrate without any direction.

Of course, but they always have one hope and that is to be better people every day and to show the world that you can be successful no matter what the circumstances.

So my admiration and respect for this great woman who has made the world fall in love with her actions.

**Nadia, my heart is in love with you**

Thank you for reading this article. For reading this article.

I will always give my bestI will always give my best