Afghanistan’s Ski Club Escapes To Italy, Seek Donations
Members of Afghanistan’s Bamyan Ski Club (its only ski club) who worked with foreign journalists, NGOs and others over the past decade to promote skiing to both local people and visitors have escaped from the country.
The Afghan skiers are reported to have been evacuated to Italy on a military plane, accompanied by their young families and they are now applying for refugee status.
“Their rescue is a miracle given the current situation in the country,” a statement from the Club says.
They are being helped by friends in the Alps and have secured free accommodation for the next year whilst they begin the long process of applying for refugee status. A target of 60,000 Euros has been set for fundraising to support the families over the coming year, with 20,000 Euros already raised.
Donations can be made by anyone. Visit http://bamyanskiclub.com and click on the yellow dot.
You can also donate via Paypal.
The fund is being managed by Club supporters in Switzerland.
During the West’s two-decade intervention in Afghanistan, dozens of local Afghan boys – and since 2013 also girls – learned to ski with the Bamyan Ski Club ski school every February before the annual Afghan Ski Challenge staged on a course in the Koh-e-Baba Mountain Range in Bamyan Province, Central Afghanistan, approximately 180km west of the capital Kabul.
A team of international instructors also taught them the basic of avalanche safety.
The Club had also aimed to open a permanent ski centre in Bamyan in and worked towards putting the first ski lift in the country for many decades.
A number of Afghan skiers became Afghanistan’s first Olympic skiers and participated in the World Skiing Championships in St Moritz in 2017.
