Javeed Ahmedzai (18), Afghanistan.
Javeed Ahmedzai (18), Afghanistan.
Before fleeing recruitment from ISIS and the Taliban, 18-year-old Javeed Ahmedzai was a professional cricket player in Afghanistan, where he played in two junior World Cups. After only a few days in the Jungle, while climbing a fence at the port, police beat and pepper-sprayed him, causing him to fall and suffer an open fracture to his left leg. They left him bleeding on the ground until a young local found him and called an ambulance, which took him to the Central Hospital in Calais, where he has been recovering after several surgeries. “Police, ISIS – they are the same,” he said. “Everybody kills. If people aren’t looking, police beat people. Really. Just because my country has a problem, I have no future. I cannot go anywhere. If you are an American citizen, then no problem.” Ahmedzai wants to pursue a career in professional cricket once in the U.K. but is not certain he will regain the full use of his leg.