Afghan woman starts life — and cricket career — over in Fredericton

Roya Samim had a good life in Afghanistan. 

In Kabul, she was a teacher with a big family, and she excelled at the sport she loved. She was a cricket star and had  just signed a contract to play for the newly created national women's team.

But that was taken away last year after the Taliban took control and women were forbidden to play sports.

Samim and her family fled the country last September and settled in Fredericton. As she made a life for herself here, the chance to play cricket again seemed bleak.

That's where Cricket New Brunswick comes in.

The group is working hard to develop the women's game in the province and ensure local athletes can compete at higher levels and even make the Canadian national team.

For Samim, it's a chance at regaining what was stolen from her.

"I was a teacher, I was a cricket player, and I had lots of activities there," Samim told Information Morning Saint John.  "And here I started from zero, so it's a little bit challenging.

"I lost everything … but now I'm really happy to be here." 

When she first arrived in Fredericton during the pandemic, Samim said, she had trouble finding teams to play. 

Often though a quintessentially English game, cricket is hugely popular in many countries in the world. It's not as well known in Canada, although it might surprise some to know the sport actually dates back to the late 1700s-early 1800s in this country, according to the website of Cricket Canada.

"The roots of Canadian cricket spring mainly from the regions of Upper Canada and in particular from around the little town of York, now known as Toronto," the website states.

"During the early years of the nineteenth century the game was encouraged in the town by George A. Barber, a young English