I read an incredibly interesting article in Women's Health (September 2006) recently. In their "Action Figures" section, WH featured Nargis Shearzad, a woman from Kabul, Afghanistan, who has overcome her own nearly crippling fall as a child to become a female business person in a country formerly overrun by the Taliban.
According to Women's Health, Shearzad overcame her fall as a toddler thanks to a physical-therapy routine devised by her family. As she got older, she became an avid runner and realized how important exercise was in her recovery and general health. Her father went out on a limb in a culture where women are not normally college attendees by encouraging her to earn a computer science degree, go to work, and open Venus, her gym for women in Kabul. Right now she has about 30 gym members and a staff of five, and retains her job in order to pay the bills. On the flip side, Nargis Shearzad also has the pride of knowing she has given her female neighbors an opportunity they wouldn't normally have to get fit and feel great, inside and out.
Women's Health says we, too, can help out in Shearzad's endeavors. The Business Council for Peace, which provided Shearzad with a mentor who helped her build her business, is accepting donations of workout DVDs for the women to use in the gym. Have some fitness DVDs you're not making good use of? Send them to: Toni Maloney, Chairperson, Business Council for Peace, 5 East 22nd Street, Suite 9J, New York, NY, 10010.
Want to get to know more about Nargis Shearzad? Apparently you can catch her blogging at blogs.mcall.com/afghan_journal. You can also learn about other "Action Figure" picks at Women's Health as well!
