Skiers and athletes. And therefore Potential enemies of the Taliban, now that the “Students of the Qur’an” have regained control of Afghanistan: that is also why they fled Kabul, an Italian plane rescued them and thanks to the mobilization of an international network – in Italy – that has a Buggiate entrepreneur as the main contact, Roberto Baratelli.
About Baratelli’s initiative, detailed by La Prealpina newspaper, Solidarity network has been activated. And Strong symbolic value for this story, who are then real people, who, with a simple and natural gesture like sport, represent a piece of resistance and an affirmation of civil rights.
The persons concerned are, at present, twenty-two: of a group of twenty-nine evacuees from Kabul in fact, seven continued their journey to France, while the others remained in Italy. “Web and access Four families: seven young children Less than 7 years old, some a few months old, Five young men and ten adults, five males and five females » detail Mathieu Sambo, Mayor of Buggiate.
“They are mostly athletes, a university professor, and a translator. They all know how to speak English. Faced with some disagreements about the local league, the mayor points out: “Baratelli activated his own initiative, but it went through institutional channels: They were flown from Afghanistan on an Air Force plane, and they are now in Rome for Initiating practices for obtaining political refugee status».
At the moment, the outlines of the operation are not well defined: “I immediately called the prefecture,” continues the mayor, we had a meeting with Baratelli, Don Cesari, and the head of the local Caritas. I reached out to other mayors in the area, from which I got an initial readiness. I also spoke with Silvio Emetti of Comerio, who has experience with the topic behind it and who gave me some pointers.”
Among the Afghan skaters, there are also some “known names”, athletes who have also tried to qualify for the Olympics: in this story local and global dimensions come together, gestures that represent the (ephemeral, unfortunately) rebirth of Afghanistan. It is no coincidence that an international network of supporters has been created to support true skate enthusiasts and athletes, with Holding local competitions and “Bamiyan Ski Club” (Pictures are taken from the site).
Since 2013 They started on the snow Girls also skate, another symbol of salvation.
An international competition was also held in 2015, in which thirty Afghan participants and twenty athletes from the USA, Australia, Norway, Slovenia, Finland, New Zealand, France and the United Kingdom participated.
Expectations that have emerged in recent days are that Italy will receive at least three thousand people, about thirty for each Italian province. Varese can become a county for skiers.
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