From beheadings to Eton
February 26th, 2013 at 4:00 pm by David FarrarThe Daily Mail reports:
When three-year-old Rohid Zamani and his family fled Afghanistan to escape the terrors of the Taliban regime, they could only hope to reach a better place.
But never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined such a spectacular outcome for their little boy.
While the family have built a new life in Britain, Rohid, now 16, has defied overwhelming odds to win a full scholarship to Eton.
His extraordinary story began in the city of Jalalabad, where the Zamanis lived in fear of the extremist Islamic rulers and civil unrest raging around them.
Among the horrors they witnessed was a man who was decapitated because he put gel in his hair to style it.
‘He was dragged out in the street and they chopped his head off,’ said Rohid.
Afghanistan is far from perfect today, but those who claim it is no better than under Taliban rule have never lived there!
Rohid’s father, who worked as a civil engineer, decided to risk everything by fleeing the country with his wife and two children.
Their journey took them across 3,500 miles, including crossing rivers in Russia in a leaking rubber dinghy.
Rohid said: ‘My mum was scared we were going to sink. She put her hand on the hole.
‘I was really scared. After that we had to wait for a van and the van broke down so we had to go through a forest.
‘There were wolves and dogs, everybody was just so scared.’
The family also became separated at one point.
They spoke no English when they arrived in Hull but they soon adapted and were allowed to settle in the UK. And Rohid showed his dedication to learning early on.
An incredible journey.
As well as being bright and hard-working, he excelled at rugby league and athletics. When the school suggested Rohid apply for an Eton scholarship he jumped at the chance and was among hundreds who took part in a tough four-day interview process.
‘Luckily I was picked so I must have done OK,’ he said.
He starts at sixth form in September, studying A-levels in maths, biology, chemistry and physics.
Rohid’s father now works as a van driver – but the family won’t have to pay a penny of the £30,000 annual fees and have been given a £1,500 bursary to help cover school uniform and other expenses.The teenager now knows there is no limit to what he can achieve. He hopes to become a surgeon. Commenting on the Eton life that awaits him, he said: ‘It’s a huge step, a bit like going to university two years early.
When people talk about equality of opportunity – this is what it means. A very heart-warming story.
Related posts:
- Afghans not Afghanis
- Canterbury University should show some common sense
- Afghanistan Electoral System
- Another school story
February 26th, 2013 at 4:05 pm
Maybe we all need to see some horror to improve ourselves
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 4:05 pm
The vile Islam, the religion of peace……not!
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Simply has to be the smartest league player in history!
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Bloody amazing story. Rugby League player gets into Eton!
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 4:17 pm
Yes. That is what equality of opportunity means. Most of the others at Eton bought their way in. How is that equality of opportunity?
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 4:39 pm
Absolutely amazing David. Thanks for sharing.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 4:51 pm
Tom Jackson,
it says that you don’t need to be rich to get into Eton. Being smart and/or good at sport can also get you there. That is what equality of opportunity is all about. That is why the son of a van driver is now attending Eton.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 5:07 pm
It is an amazing story. Lucky the family didn’t try to go to Australia instead of the UK aye.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 5:19 pm
30,000 pounds in fees? Pah! A few years ago this was nearly 120,000NZD.
Today, it is only around 54,000NZD.
How far the brits have fallen!!!
Good story though.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 5:20 pm
“it says that you don’t need to be rich to get into Eton. Being smart and/or good at sport can also get you there. That is what equality of opportunity is all about. That is why the son of a van driver is now attending Eton.”
Generally speaking money gets you in more reliably than brains.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 5:32 pm
I suppose it would be churlish to observe that many Islamic terrorists (the religion of peace) had a western university education where they learned some really useful stuff.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 6:19 pm
Good on him.
The story isn’t really clear about how they got to settle in the UK – seems they weren’t ‘legitimate’ refugees or immigrants based on the description of the journey. Is the Daily Mail praising a family of dodgy asylum seekers that it would usually rail against?
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 6:31 pm
Oh – how sweet , how heart warming …..
It so reminds of many others from Africa and the middle east who have been educated and trained in England – only to return back home and terrorize and subjugate their peoples, and – of course – empty the national treasury.
Mugabe comes to mind. And then there are quite a few from saudi Arabia.
Such nice people…….
Such a heart warming story…….
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 6:36 pm
Of course, but then money also helps buy a care more reliably than winning one as a prize for winning, say, the Coast to Coast (do they still give a car as a prize for that?), but the fact is that the opportunity is there with the requisite talent, desire and hard work.
Equality of opportunity does not mean that everybody gets to do or own whatever they want regardless of cost or effort. But if it does, then I want a Ferrari…
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 6:58 pm
I agree with mara and barry.
So embedded is the evil of Islam in Muslims that I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this young guy in the ranks of al-Qaeda in the next few years. Was it Zarqawi or Zawahiri who trained as a surgeon? One of them anyway.
So yes – on the surface of it, this seems like a “nice story”, but the real world has a way of ensuring that stories like this have bad endings.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 8:19 pm
thor42 and others, we must take each man or woman on their own merits. I would say these people have probably had their fill of extreme religion. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a good example of someone who fled their native homeland because of extremism, and turned their back on it.
Yes it is no guarantee the young lad wont be turned by extremism in the next 10 years while his still developing brain is open to ideologies of any kind. One can hope he makes good friends at Eton and (probably Oxford, or Cambridge) University, feels a connected and welcome part of the British community he is part of, and does not become disillusioned and embittered and vulnerable to exploitation. This is certainly a good start.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 8:20 pm
So he went from a place of capital punishment to a place of corporal punishment
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 8:25 pm
He will probably become a Proctologist with the training he gets at Eton.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 8:51 pm
What a sad bunch of people that can’t celebrate a child’s triumph over adversity without worrying and fidgeting about a consideration that it all might be a deception in the passage of time. That’s a similar mindset to those that carried out the beheading of the man wearing hair gel.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 9:21 pm
Equality of opportunity means every Muslim should be able to move to the west and we should pay for the privelige.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 9:27 pm
What an extraordinary young man.
I like stories like this. A real triumph over adversity.
Vote:February 26th, 2013 at 10:00 pm
Not really equal opportunity as there are very few scholarships in to Eton – more like winning the lotto – they receive applications from an enormous amount of less well off families and can cherry pick for image and promotional reasons. They’re pretty much all scholarly overachievers with commitment.
There is an element of equal opportunity as having lots of dosh is no guarantee of getting in. Daddy needs to be major royalty (or equivalent with influence) or little Johnny needs to be quite smart and one has the cash. There are lots of pissed off public school kids who could not make in to Eton despite being well off. This does mean that the average Etonian is pretty clever despite the various stereotypes. They also tend to be less insecure and less in to the historical British class system crap than upper class twits from the less successful public schools.
Vote:February 27th, 2013 at 6:35 am
Well done to this young man, he is (or should be) an inspiration.
Mind you, he only had to deal with beheadings, beatings and the threat of being hauled out of his bed and shot by religious nutters.
Imagine if he had been born Maori in New Zealand, then he would have faced the insurmountable problem of having to deal with the supposed “injustices” of the past, not only that, he would have faced the crushing power of colonisation.
Vote:February 27th, 2013 at 7:42 am
From Taliban to UK resident.
Here’s another perspective on the Muslim immigration problem.
Just about everyone in a Muslim country could claim to have a human rights case to stay in the west. It’s utter madness.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2163779/Zareen-Ahmadzai-Taliban-soldier-killed-battle-wins-fight-stay-UK.html
Vote:February 27th, 2013 at 8:51 am
It isn’t clear whether he got in despite overcoming adversity or because of it. It would be equality of opportunity if a white middle class kid from Newcastle with the same grades had the same chance of getting in. That may be the case here but I doubt it. Nice story though.
Vote:February 27th, 2013 at 9:01 am
More slander and prejudice from another useful idiot.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was accused of beheading Nick Berg, but Berg was dead before he was beheaded. Al-Zarqawi has been reportedly killed four different times.
For al-Zawahiri’s links to Gladio-B, please check James Corbets interviews of Sibel Edmonds
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/zarqawi-used-in-us-propaganda-blitz/2006/04/10/1144521269057.html
Vote:http://www.corbettreport.com/know-your-terrorists-ayman-al-zawahiri-video/