Nilofar Bayat; from Bomb Victim to Wheelchair Basketball Captain
18 October 2018 20:10 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Nilofar Bayat (24) can no longer recall the details when the bomb that was set up by a Taliban group in Kabul, Afghanistan, exploded and left a lifetime scar on her body. The explosion smashed her leg when she was just at a tender age of 2.5 years old.
Bayat told a story of living with her disability that initially made her avoid meeting people. But slowly Nilofar Bayat came to an awareness that made her feel proud of herself, especially through basketball, a sport that helped her be known in Afghanistan.
“Disability is not to limit us, to tell us you are disabled. No. This is something that makes me able to do many things but differently. It’s amazing when I play basketball. I feel like now I have a purpose in life. Now I want to work hard and show that we are also strong and that it is not important that we have a disability,” said Bayat enthusiastically to Tempo on October 5.
It would be an understatement to describe Bayat’s personal story as heroic, considering that Afghanistan still sees that it is uncommon for women and disabled people enroll in sports.
She confessed that it was hard at the beginning of her career as a basketball para-athlete in Afghanistan and that she needed to convince her family to let her play in the para basketball.
“My mother and father now supports me, especially after in Bali when we became champion, actually my mom was so proud; she said that I was so strong,” said Bayat who landed in Jakarta with her team to participate in the Asian Para Games 2018.
Under a daunting task as to taking the role of the national women’s wheelchair basketball team, Bayat intends to spread a positive message to women in the world. How women outside of Afghanistan can improve their capacity, have equal rights, and how women contribute to society.
“Sure, it is not easy for women to join any sport in Afghanistan. It’s not easy to go out and to do sport but now it is good, something is changing in Afghanistan,” said Nilofar Bayat, before adding that the Afghan government has supported the disabled in sports, even though it is still understandably hampered by the lack of funding.
SUCI SEKARWATI
