Mina, a woman with black belt in Karate at service of refugees
When it comes to sex, always women are considered as the weaker sex than men. Throughout the world, women have limited lives than men. There are even women who do not have the right to decide on the most personal work.
But Mina, different from many women did not accept the defeat. She has a black belt in “Shotokan Karate” and has globally and regionally competed for two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan and has won many medals. She has started her career from zero in Indonesia, after abandoning Afghanistan due to security threats.
“Ich”, “Ni”, “San”, “Chi”, these are the Japanese-language pronunciation of numbers which, Mina shout them against the long queues of her students every day, gives them positive energy and opens a valve of hope for asylum-seekers in Indonesia.
Nearly 14000 immigrants live in Indonesia. Some of them live in camps under the international organization (IOM) and the Indonesian migration office and some others live in hotels rented by IOM for immigrants to live.
There are people who live freely, with their personal expenses. The conditions of these people are better than those who live in camps; they can tour the city, but those who live in the camps, besides not being allowed to work and study, are always like prisoners in the camp. They cannot get out more than once or twice a year.
If refugees work, they will be considered illegal and will be penalized by the Indonesian government.
Mina Assadi, who has the black belt of Karate lives in “Chysarva,” an area in Bogor, Indonesia. The Cisarua Refugee Shotokan Karate club has started its activity in early 2016 in this area by the efforts of Mina Assadi.
Asylum-seekers are exercising in this club for free.
“I want to teach these refugees Karate to decrease their stress and mental pressure and I am very satisfied and happy,” Mina said.
There are people who are waiting for their satisfactory asylum case for more than six years. If they have a good chance, they will be accepted in one of the countries, otherwise, they will remain undecided in camps.
Asylum-seekers in these camps are more from Sari Lanka, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iran, Somali, Myanmar, Libya and other countries.
Most of “Chysarva” students are refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.
Mina Assadi was born in Afghanistan but in the early years immigrated to Pakistan due to civil war in Afghanistan. She practiced Karate there and shined well. She entered Pakistan’s national team and honored several times for Pakistan.
“I was sad, because I could not bring honor to my own country. So I decided to come back to Afghanistan and I did it,” Mina said.
I opened a club when I came to Afghanistan, where I taught girls and boys at different times. Applicants to learn Karate were too high and among them, girls had a significant presence.
“I worked in Afghanistan for several years and taught many students. Some of them went to national Karate team of Afghanistan and gained great fame for the country. But by the elapse of time, security threats by unknown people and authorities made me leave Afghanistan again. That is why I left Afghanistan and then as an immigrant I tried to be a model and a hope for refugees who were living in complete desperation,” she added.
Now, Mina is not only a model for refugees in Indonesia, but also has attracted the attention of world famous media.
The Australian (ABC news) has written about Mina: “Mina Assadi is smaller than many of those, she teaches them. But with her useful guidelines, all students are well trained.”
Indian women weblog said, “Now, Mina has started teaching Karate in Indonesia, after she was deported from Afghanistan. She is the best model Indian women and world.”
Cisarus Refugee Shotokan Karate Club was launched at the bleakest point of the world and for the most desperate people but now, it is a hope for a lot of people. Mina Assadi, the coach and founder of the club, doing her best to attract the attention of global institutions by higher education, and to provide a better field of education for refugees. On the other hand, to draw up countries of the world’s attention to the issue of asylum-seeker, in order to have a humanitarian demeanor toward refugees.
Maryam Nabawi – (DID) news agency
Translated by: Taher Mojab
