She left everything behind when the Taliban took over her village in Afghanistan, but now Afsana Nawrozi is moving on to her next chapter of her life.
Like many of the opportunities that has come her way, biking brought her to Arizona and to the Village of Oak Creek’s Verde Valley School. Through a mutual friend, who knew about the international boarding school and having a goal to go abroad, Nawrozi made a home in Sedona surrounded by the red rocks and mountain bike trails.
“This place has become my home and these people have become my family,” Nawrozi said.
In August, before the Taliban retook Afghanistan, prior to the United States withdrawing its last troops and before girls were banned from schools again, Nawrozi lived in a small village with her family. Growing up with four sisters and a brother, Nawrozi quickly realized she was a bit different from the children around her.
“In Afghanistan, they prefer to have boys [over] girls,” Nawrozi said. “But I started to ask about that and why it was. It’s like we are the same, we can do the same things. And I just kind of showed my dad that this is not right. I remember I was the first little girl from our village to always be outside playing with the boys and the first child to have a bike.”
Nawrozi’s parents were always supportive of their children’s goals. When she was just 7 years old, her father gave her a pink bike. That was the start of Nawrozi’s goal to race.
In 2019, when she was just 15 and after years of practicing, she qualified for Afghanistan’s national cycling team. The next year, she placed second in the national championship.
“They are super open-minded and supportive. They’ve supported me being here and now my sisters are in Portugal,” Nawrozi said.
It’s not just Nawrozi who has the athletic genes in her family. As part of the Afghan national youth girls’ soccer team, her younger sister’s soccer skills helped their mother and other sisters get escape from Afghanistan with assistance from the Portuguese government.
It’s because of sports, that Nawrozi’s family was able to get to safety.
Through her own biking connections, she left Afghanistan for a short trip to Pakistan to get her visa in order to attend the Verde Valley School. It was during that trip, she received news that the Taliban had taken over and closed its borders. That was the last time she would see her family.
As she waited in a safe house in Pakistan, for weeks, she tried to stay updated on any news of her family and her visa. Finally, she was granted the paperwork and hopped on a flight to the U.S. — and landed in Arkansas, where she watched competitive mountain biking for the first time.
“I was a road cyclist in Afghanistan. And here it was my first time ever riding on mountain trails,” Nawrozi said. “At first, I started with a beginner group and we went somewhere close to [VVS] and I thought I was so bad. But a few days after that, I started to think this is really good and I’m really enjoying this.”
A normally bubbly and happy girl, when Nawrozi thinks or talks about her family, that spark dies down in comparison to the thrill of talking about her new Santa Cruz Juliana mountain bike. And it’s biking that has kept her focused on her new life in the U.S. instead of always worrying about her family, thousands of miles away in her native country.
“After the Taliban [took over], so many people, unfortunately, were killed,” Nawrozi said. “Many had to leave. And we really worked hard to find some opportunity or some way to get my family out. But we were not able to do that for all of them.”
Nawrozi’s father and two half-siblings remain in Afghanistan. Over the past seven months, depending on the phone service, she is able to talk with them from their safe house.
Since VVS only offers a biking club, Nawrozi has not competed since she has been living in the U.S., but that is all about change.
Nawrozi is taking the opportunity to leave Sedona for competitive cycling at a boarding school near Charlottesville, Virginia. However, she will miss the family and home she created on the dirt trails in the Verde Valley.
“I just want to keep continuing the academics and athletics, no matter where [I am]. I’m not sure I can go back to my country. But I [want to stay in the U.S.], because I have these opportunities which are encouraging me to do everything I can. And after school, I will definitely apply to a U.S. college.”
Nawrozi hopes to visit her family in Portugal a year from now. After that, she will be on her way to riding competitively once again.
