On and off the field, Zaynab fights for girls and refugee acceptance
Women were forbidden from playing soccer in her home. Now Zaynab is making the most of her opportunity to learn and lead.
It’s day two of the Street Soccer USA tournament and Zaynab’s team — the only one with refugee players — is undefeated. When she steps onto the field, her goal isn’t to win (though she likes that, too). Zaynab is here to represent refugees and prove what they’re capable of achieving.
Now in its 10th year, Street Soccer USA gives disadvantaged students the opportunity to play sports, while also building important skills like teamwork and self-confidence. After a season of practise and competition, the top teams come together for an annual tournament, held this year in Philadelphia.
“Of all of the teams competing, we’re the only team with refugees,” 21-year-old Zaynab says proudly. The Twin Cities team from Minnesota includes Bilan, Ayan, Esther, Zamzam, Asvaham — all refugees from Somalia and Yemen. Their coach, Ani, is also a refugee and former Street Soccer player.
By 17, Zaynab was a refugee of three wars, moving from Somalia to Yemen and then Egypt. She was separated from her family as violence consumed her life. She wasn’t able to do the two things she loved doing the most: going to school and watching soccer.
When she resettled in Minnesota, Zaynab was thrilled to discover not only could she continue her education, but she could also play on a soccer team — something women were not permitted to do in the other countries where she lived.
Playing soccer also helped change the negative image that her new schoolmates had about refugees. At her high school, some American students bullied their refugee classmates, yelling “Go back to your country!” as Zaynab and her friends walked the hallways. Determined to prove they belonged to the community just like anyone else, Zaynab started a soccer team with her fellow refugee and immigrant girls.
“At first we were horrible,” Zaynab remembers. Even though she loved the game, she had never actually played soccer before coming to the United States. But she told her teammates, “It’s not about winning, it’s about being there and proving we can play. We are no different.”
With a lot of practise and determination, the team started to get better. After graduating high school, she joined the Twin Cities Street Soccer team to continue to play. She is now captain of the team.
Zaynab was selected to compete to represent the U.S. on the Homeless World Cup team, competing in Europe in August. However, she is afraid to leave the country with just a green card.
“I’m 99% sure that I’ll be let back in, but there’s still that 1%,” she says. Visiting Europe would mean seeing her 18-year-old sister for the first time in five years.
Her sister, who lives in Brussels, planned to join Zaynab and their mother in the U.S., but the refugee ban stopped her visa application process.
The refugee ban is no longer in effect, but the trauma and uncertainty it caused still lingers for many refugees. They fear that at any moment, another ban could be announced — keeping families apart.
Even as her lawyer reassures her that she will be okay to travel, Zaynab is afraid of being questioned by agents at the airport just because she looks different.
But back on the field, Zaynab is just another girl in a soccer jersey. In the championship game, her Twin Cities team quickly scores a goal, then two, then three. Thirty minutes fly by and Zaynab’s team beats Chicago by a score of 9–4.
At the awards ceremony, Zaynab receives the Dignity Award for her work fighting for refugee education both on and off the field. The crowd looks on as she and her teammates, beaming with pride, hoist the championship cup high above their heads.
In April, Malala kicked off her global #GirlPowerTrip in Lancaster, PA to meet with girls like Zaynab and amplify their stories. Each girl has a unique story to tell — and their voices are our most powerful weapons in the fight for education and equality.
