Long description
In 1979, when Awista Ayub was only two years old, her family fled Afghanistan for the United States, where Awista flourished, thanks to organized athletics--and where she vowed to make a difference in her home country some day. Soon after the fall of the Taliban, Awista saw her chance: She founded the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange, an organization dedicated to nurturing Afghan girls through soccer. What began with eight young women has exploded into something of a phenomenon. Fifteen teams now compete with the Afghanistan Football Federation, with hundreds of girls participating. By bringing soccer to young Afghan women, Awista re-introduced the very traits the decades of war had cruelly stripped away from them--confidence and self-worth. In However Tall the Mountain, she tells her story and the stories of the eight original girls. Timely, heartfelt, and moving, it shows how women can find strength in each other, in teamwork, and in themselves--risking their lives to obtain the freedom that we take for granted.
Review
In 2006 I was at home watching the ESPY Awards when two young women from Afghanistan were honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. I was moved to tears and knew immediately that these brave women needed to tell their stories. By facing extraordinary obstacles and even life-threatening danger--just by playing a sport that we take for granted--they came together to play soccer and in the process they have brought about change in a country where a woman's very identity has been brutally stripped away. -- Gretchen Young