LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Nadia Nadim, the Racing Louisville FC star who has a harrowing life story, met with Jefferson County Public Schools students Thursday, many of whom have fought their own life-and-death battles at a young age.

Nadim joined students from Newcomer Academy at the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville. More than 100 refugee students listened to their peer, Nilofar Mohammad Khil, who escaped Afghanistan.

"In August 2020, the Taliban tried to kill me when I was walking to English class," Mohammad  Khil said. "When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, we had to leave or die. My family pushed me and my wheelchair into the airplane."

There is no shortage of emotional stories at the Ail Center, and more were added Thursday, tragic stories fueling hope, bravery and a new opportunity to recover from trauma.

Nadia Nadim at Newcomer Elementary School

Nadia Nadim, the Racing Louisville FC star who has a harrowing life story, met with Jefferson County Public Schools students Thursday, many of whom have fought their own life-and-death battles at a young age. March 23, 2023 (WDRB Photo)

Scott Wade, who teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) at Newcomer, said most of his students come from horrific situations.

"Many of them come through places where they have seen people killed, they know they have people left behind, they know they have made it, but now what," Wade said.

Nadim grew up inside a walled complex in Kabul, Afghanistan, the daughter of Rabani Nadim, a general in the Afghan army who was executed by the Taliban when Nadia was 11. Not long after, her mother had sold most of the family’s possessions and begun the process of smuggling Nadia and her four sisters out of the country. They left their home in the dead of night and waited in an apartment near the border of Pakistan, cut off from the outside world, turning down several chances to separate and leave until an offer came to smuggle out the whole family.

"I am standing with Nadia Nadim," Mohammad Khil said. "I am so happy."

Thursday brought a new opportunity for students to recover from trauma, as the Racing Louisville soccer star has a compelling story of her own. Students watched Nadim's 90-minunte documentary that details her fight to flee Afghanistan as a child. 

"My message is simple, that they are not alone," Nadim said Thursday. "It's important to know the story, the struggle that I have been through, because it's something that they can relate to."

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg presented Nadim with a proclamation, and the school’s Afghan Choir also sang about their home country.  

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