Afghan women and girls fighting to become Shaolin martial art ambassadors

TMP – 20/02/2017

On a hillside west of Kabul a small group of Afghan women and girls are practicing the ancient art of Shaolin “wushu” kung fu. The 10 ethnic Hazara women and girls are preparing for the day that Afghanistan can send its womens wushu team to an international tournament.

The group is being trained by a 20-year-s old woman, Sima Azimi, who obtained her black belt in wushu in Iran after studying it for three years, and now spends her time teaching other girls and women.

In Kabul, where women and girls are sometimes harassed on their way to school or work or while shopping, it is important to teach them self-defence skills. Azimi recalls an incident in which a thief tried to snatch her purse. Using her martial arts skills she fought back and managed to keep it.

Azimi currently has nine students. Among them is Raihana Amiri, who is also 20 years old. Amiri hopes she can participate international wushu competitions and thereby bring pride to Afghanistan.

When they aren’t training outside, the team is coached in a small club, financed by a young actor. Azimi says it was difficult to find all the tools needed to train. She had to order a Shaolin sword from Iran and for the Shaolin uniforms they had to use the skills of a Kabul tailor.

Since she returned from Iran, Azimi has made it her mission to train young girls in the neighbourhood. She charges the girls and young women who attend her class anywhere from $2 to $5 a month, depending on what they can afford.

“Some of my students’ families had problems accepting their girls studying wushu,” she says. “But I went to their homes and talked to their parents.”

Azimi believes that girls and women can compete equally with boys in martial arts. In a competition organized by the National Olympic Committee competition in Kabul, Azimi was the top female contender in kung fu.