A few days ago I visited Volos and photographed a young athlete named Ahmad Nadeem. Nadeem is a 25-year-old refugee from Pakistan, who arrived in Greece at the age of 13, as an unaccompanied child. Nadeem spent his teenage years in a shelter for unaccompanied children in Makrinitsa village near Volos. 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. This is the place where he learned the Greek language and discovered his talent in sports as well. 

Since 2014, Nadeem’s training became more intensive, while at the same time he started working as an interpreter for the shelter he grew up in.“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.”His next goal is the Pan-Hellenic Athletics Championship for persons with disabilities that will be held over 9 – 11 July in Thessaloniki, but his big goal and dream 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. “My best time is 56.29 seconds. I am happy, but I am trying to reach my dream, the Paralympics.”

I had the pleasure to spend almost a day with Nadeem, at the shelter and afterwards at the Panthessaliko stadium where he had his training session and what struck me the most was his determination, strong will and above all, his great kindness. Gifts pointed out by his coach, Eleni Manouka which turned out to be absolutely true.

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