Young refugee’s sporting chance
In his short life, 5-year-old Muhammad has had to deal with his father’s murder, fleeing from Afghanistan and moving to the other side of the world.
However, his mother hopes playing cricket will now help him forget all they had to endure.
She’s still worried the death threats could follow them to New Zealand, so she has adopted the alias Shogofa for their safety.
‘‘I said to myself that one day my son will be a superstar for New Zealand. And I will be a person to work hard for New Zealand because, in bad times, New Zealand helped us and one day I will help back,’’ she said.
That dream is supported by Hamiltonbased social enterprise The Waterboy, a group which links sponsors and kids who wouldn’t otherwise be able to play sport.
Muhammad will now have mentoring, fees paid and transport arranged.
And he’s met Black Caps cricketer Tim Southee, who fell in love with cricket when he was about Muhammad’s age.
On Monday afternoon, Muhammad donned a gold-detailed Mumbai Indians shirt from Southee for a game of backyard cricket on the outskirts of Hamilton.
‘‘You go over there and I’m going to try and throw this,’’ Mohammad instructed.
After a few goes and a big run-up, Muhammad took Southee’s wicket, celebrating with arms in the air. It’s a moving sight for Shogofa. In Afghanistan, she helped others – mainly women – with projects such as literacy and chicken farming.
But the Taliban didn’t like that and she got the first threatening call from them in 2013.
‘‘They said my full name . . . Everything about me. You just feel that he’s in front of you. Even, he said, ‘Now we know which colour you’re wearing . . . Just stop your projects, otherwise we’re going to destroy you and your family’.’’
One day my son will be a superstar for New Zealand. And I will be a person to work hard for New Zealand because, in bad times, New Zealand helped us and one day I will help back. Shogofa, left
Later that year militants shot her husband – and the pair’s driver – when he went with her on a project.
Shogofa, then six months pregnant, got her husband to an emergency department in the capital and passed out.
By the time she reopened her eyes her husband was dead, and she blamed herself.
About two months later, after more threats, she needed an early C-section, which resulted in her newborn daughter also dying.
It was late 2014 when Shogofa left everything and took Muhammad to the border with Pakistan.
She bribed her way across without a passport, she said, then pretended to be dead in the back of an ambulance.
After months in Pakistan – often going days without food – Shogofa heard they could come to New Zealand as refugees.
But her freedom in New Zealand was shortlived as she and her son became the target of racist attacks soon after moving into their Hamilton Housing New Zealand home in 2015.
People told her to leave, knocked on her door late at night, calling ‘‘we want to talk to you, hey, Muslim’’, and dumped rubbish on her lawn.
A family who helped Shogofa with her lawns eventually came to their rescue and took them into their home.
‘‘Sometimes people might say it’s like a movie, but my life is like a movie . . . I’m fighting with my life but I will never lose my passion.’’
Shogofa is an incredible woman, The Waterboy founder Tom Nabbs said.
‘‘Her objective is to make a better life with her son. Hopefully we’re helping her achieve it.’’
The people paying for Muhammad’s start in cricket are Nick and Ceri Rowland, founding directors of Side by Side – Bespoke Partnerships.
‘‘No-one in New Zealand can really understand what this family’s been through,’’ Nick said.