Five years ago I began evacuating Afghan cyclists. Most of that was funded through crowdfunders like this. Visas, passports, transport costs, safe houses, food and medical costs, all of that came from individuals that cared about the wellbeing of cyclists. The majority were women due to my work in Afghanistan over the past two decades. But several were young men; national cycling team members abandoned by their own federation, and cyclists who had supported their sisters in cycling.
Shamsad and Ali Jan were prominent cyclists in Bam yan. They were comrades of the well-known cycling team founders Zahra Hussaini and Zakia Mohammadi, who created the 'right-to-ride' movement in Bamyan. These two women are legends of Afghan and women's cycling history. The same cycling community that Shamsad and Ali Jan were part of and actively helped support.
Yet when the evacuations began, the President of the Afghan Cycling Federation began threatening them and called them fake cyclists on social media. He actively tried to prevent their evacuations. I evacuated them to Pakistan and safeguarded them for a year, but was unable to get them asylum. The submitted evidence of threats and corruption along with a dozen other cyclists against the President of the Afghan Cycling Federation to UCI's Ethics Commission and after 2 1/2 years of waiting for the Commission to make a decision, the president was found guilty . By then, however, Shamshad and Ali Jan had been pushed back into Afghanistan.
I got them evacuated again, in a complicated, dangerous, and expensive evacuation and they are once again in a safehouse while we search for asylum options. The details beyond that we cannot share but hope to be able to in the coming weeks.
Their evacuation and safeguarding had no financial support. The sports and human rights community, the cycling community, and UCI have all declined or ignored our requests for help - as they have throughout the past 5 years of evacuating over 250 people Afghans. Everything has happened because of individual support.
What does it cost to evacuate and support two Afghan cyclists?
Passports - $500-$1500 depending on the situation
Visas $1500-2000
Land evacuation - $600-$1000
Safehouses - $2,000 a month until they get asylum
Food and misc expenses - $1,000 a month until they get asylum
UNHCR registration - $1500
Flights - $1500-2000
Resettlement support in new country - $$$$$
It's Tour de France season - if every race fan and amateur cyclist donated just $5 these two cyclists would be safe and their future would be assured.
