Nadeem during his daily training routine at the Panthessaliko stadium in Volos city. © UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
A group of teenagers warming up on the turf at the Panthessaliko stadium pauses to watch a young man who suddenly darts down the track. Every afternoon, Ahmad Nadeem undertakes his daily training routine until the sun sets on the stadium in Volos city in central Greece.
The 400-meter distance that he covers in less than a minute brings a sense of awe to onlookers in the vast space. The fact that the runner does not have a left arm from the elbow down is not something observers initially notice.
For Nadeem, who arrived in Greece from Pakistan on his own at the tender age of 13, daily training is more than a healthy habit. Sport, for Nadeem, now 25, has become an anchor, sustaining him during the most challenging times. Arriving alone, in a foreign country, he found that sport enabled him to better focus on his goals.
“The first few years were a bit rough. As soon as I realised that sport was my passion, my will power helped me make everything easier,” says Nadeem, whose drive and determination came to the attention of others.
“Nadeem is an astounding young man with determination and strong will, and above all, with great kindness”, says his coach, Eleni Manouka.
She oversees Nadeem’s training at the “Argonauts” Volos Sports Club for persons with disabilities since November 2020. Eleni Manouka stresses that Nadeem also receives valuable support from the Hellenic Paralympic Committee, through its programmes that promote access to sports for refugees with disabilities.
Manouka, a physical education teacher, is actively involved in sports for persons with disabilities for over 25 years. It is not easy, she says, for these persons, even more so for children, to get over the stigma and practical hurdles. Sport, though, helps, she says.
“Sport helps you regain your confidence. It is the best thing for a person, for a refugee as well. Despite the fact that Nadeem has attended school here, he is still a ‘refugee’. Through sport, he has become more social and active in the community, and does not encounter any issues”, Manouka says of Nadeem, who is now like part of her family.
The two are so close that eye contact is enough for them to communicate in the stadium. ”I have four children, and Nadeem is the fifth”, says Eleni Manouka. She drives him to his practice at Panthessaliko Stadium, located outside the city of Volos, and back each day.
They are both looking forward to the next Pan-Hellenic Athletics Championship for persons with disabilities that will be held over 9 – 11 July in Thessaloniki. Their goal is to receive another distinction in the T47 category, which is the grouping for competitors with similar disabilities as the one Nadeem was born with.
His next big goal and dream, like every athlete’s, is to compete in the Tokyo Paralympic Games. “I would like to lower my time by about 3 seconds in the 400m distance”, says Nadeem in his fluent Greek, without missing a step in his warm-up routine. “My best time is 56.29 seconds. I am happy, but I am trying to reach my dream, the Paralympics.”
Sometimes a person can see clearly what really matters in life after a big shock or an incident turns their plans upside down. For Nadeem, that life-changing moment came almost ten years ago when he met Ioanna Repana while staying at the shelter for unaccompanied children in the village of Makrinitsa, near Volos run by ARSIS, the Association for the Social Support of Youth.
Like many unaccompanied children arriving in Greece, Nadeem had to overcome many challenges since 2008 when he reached the country after a frightening trip across the sea to Samos, before finding himself at the ARSIS shelter.
Repana took over as the coordinator of the shelter in 2012. When she met Nadeem there, he was speaking Greek but had abandoned school and was working at a local business from morning till night.
“The fact that I am speaking Greek today, at this level, I owe it to Ms. Repana, who helped me in my first steps. The opportunity presented itself and I took it,” says Nadeem, whose gratitude towards the staff of the shelter where he found refuge as an unaccompanied child and which is now his workplace, is evident.
“There were no interpreters at the shelter back then,” clarifies Ioanna Repana. “Nadeem was able to communicate well in Greek and had informally taken-on the role of translator for the other children at the shelter, even though he was still a child himself. We started talking about him going back to school and becoming an interpreter.”
After this encouragement, Nadeem enrolled in high school and continued his studies at the vocational senior high school, specialising in physical therapy.
“Ms. Repana also discovered my talent in sport”, says Nadeem with a warm smile.
“I saw him one day playing dodgeball in the shelter and I was impressed by his throwing arm and athletic ability. Hewas like a roe deer! I was not specialised to understand what his talent was exactly, so we started looking into it with the help of other persons involved in sport,” she explains.
They established contact with the Gymnastics Club of Volos alongside efforts to resolve administrative issues with his documents to allow him to train with the club.
Nadeem during his daily training routine at the Panthessaliko stadium in Volos city. © UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
Nadeem is helping with interpretation Christos Alexopoulos, the teacher of ARSIS shelter in Makrinitsa. Although now Christos is Nadeem’s colleague, he still calls him ‘teacher’ out of respect. © UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
Νadeem with Eleni Manouka his coach from the “Argonauts” Volos Sports Club for persons with disabilities © UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
Ioanna Repana is holding an information session with unaccompanied children hosted a the shelter of ARSIS in Makrinitsa, while Nadeem Ahmad provides interpretation. © UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
When Nadeem talks about his years in Greece his gratitude towards the staff of the ARSIS shelter in Makrinitsa where he found refuge as a unaccompanied child and which is now his workplace, is evident. © UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
Ioanna Repana, the coordinator of ARSIS shelter in Makrinitsa discussing with Nadeem at the terrace of the facility. © UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
Since 2014, Nadeem’s training became more intensive, while at the same time he started working with ARSIS. “My days began at around 5 am, I started work at 7:30 am in Makrinitsa, until I finished at 15:30 and then went to Volos where I trained until 18:30. Then I ran with my backpack to catch the bus because I had to go to the evening school. Usually, I was running late for the first session! I finished school at 22:30 and by the time I got home I did not have the strength to even change my clothes. I used to eat souvlaki on the run every night.”
Nadeem does not seem to regret all those endless days. At work, he feels that he helps unaccompanied children because he can understand them better, having gone through similar travails himself. As an interpreter, he was deployed to the Greek islands with other ARSIS members from the first days of the 2015 crisis in extremely difficult conditions.
“Because he has gone through so many hardships since he was a child, I think he can even help a small sparrow that might cross his path in the street,” says Ioanna Repana about her colleague’s compassion.
“With Nadeem, it was not the same as with the other children; I have to find ways to motivate them. Since the time he was my student up until today that we are working daily together, he keeps asking me about words that he wants to learn. He is a restless spirit,” says Christos Alexopoulos, the teacher working at ARSIS shelter, a man who Nadeem says has helped him a lot over the years.
When Nadeem refers to people that have supported him in Greece, Nadeem is anxious not to forget anyone and eagerly mentions the names of everyone who crossed his path and supported him in various ways: the staff of ARSIS, his different coaches, doctors and physiotherapists, teachers.
It is in Volos that he has lived some of his happiest times. “Like when I took the high school diploma into my hands and said to myself, ‘OK, I achieved something’.” About his happy times, he also adds when he has triumphed inside stadiums, when he got his first medals in pan-Hellenic championships.
“People rarely hear something good about foreigners, refugees. They only hear bad news,” he says, reflecting on his own integration pitfalls in the community.
“It is very important for refugees to learn the language, to be patient, and have courage,” Nadeem adds, speaking especially about youngsters. “So that eventually people do not rely only upon what they hear, but so they also see refugees as they are, not as something different, but as human beings.”
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