SOS MEDITERRANEE / Morgane Lescot
Shararah* is a 25-year-old Muay Thai fighter in Afghanistan. She was rescued with 128 other survivors in a complex rescue operation from an unseaworthy 15-meter steel fishing vessel in the Ionian Sea, close to the Italian coast, on December 15th, 2024. The survivors told our teams they had been at sea for up to six days, departing from Izmir, Turkey between Dec. 8th and 9th.
Shararah* was born in Kabul and started boxing when she was ten. Combat runs in the veins of the family: “My brother is a Taekwondo teacher, and my sister is also a Muay Thai champion at home.
“I like Muay Thai because it’s a tough sport, not meant for girls: in Afghanistan, girls don’t go to school nor do any sports. My mother has always supported me with this passion, she told me she believed in me.”
“I was able to travel to Thailand and to the United States thanks to this passion. I have trained with Shukria Bahmani, a gold-winning Muay Thai fighter and have fought in around 40 competitions. I’m the first Afghan woman who won a silver medal in 2016. I’m very proud of this.”
“I met my husband during one of my competitions in Afghanistan, he came to see me fight. We fell in love and got married. We are the parents of Adriana, our 3-year-old girl. She was born in Turkey, in 2021.”
Shararah* is Hazara, one of Afghanistan’s largest ethnic minorities, persecuted by Taliban fighters. She also mentions the oppression suffered by women: “Afghanistan is not a safe country for women because of the presence of Taliban.” She had to flee her country with her husband, who was eventually able to find a job in Aksaray, Turkey. Shararah* has a watch tattooed on her hand. When asked what it stands for, she replies, a voice full of emotion and eyes full of tears: “We have spent three years in Turkey before trying to cross the sea. I have lost a lot of time there. I couldn’t train or do any Muay Thai, the most important thing in my life. I was completely depressed.”
Shararah* and her husband saved enough money to organize the journey at sea onboard the fishing vessel: “I felt like we were going to die on the ship. Adriana and I were constantly seasick and vomiting.
When asked what her plans are, Adriana replies: “I want to be a doctor or a Pilot. This would be my dream. But I will also continue to do Muay Thai.”
Shararah* and 162 other survivors were later disembarked in Ravenna on December 17th, 2024.
*Name modified to protect the identity of the person.
Testimony collected on December 17th, 2024, by Morgane Lescot onboard Ocean Viking.
