Ep 168 - Refugee advocacy, sport, & the power of speaking up against oppression with Roman Abasy

What does it mean to lead when everything is at stake?

In this powerful episode, Roman Abasy shares his story of fleeing Afghanistan with his family, standing against the Taliban regime, and using his voice to advocate for safety, freedom, and human rights. A former athlete and lifelong leader, he speaks with clarity, courage, and deep care for others navigating oppression and injustice.

We talk about the circumstances of his advocacy leading to him needing to get out of Afghanistan when the Taliban took over, the emotional toll of being a public voice, the responsibility that comes with lived experience, and the kind of leadership that doesn’t fit neatly into corporate boxes, but transforms lives through sport.

This is a story about truth, trauma, and the power of continuing to speak.

Content note: This conversation includes references to war, trauma, and displacement.

Enjoying the podcast? Don’t forget to follow for more episodes packed with insights on growth, change, and living a more fulfilling life.
Got a thought or story to share? Reach out via Instagram at @j_.leigh , on LinkedIn at Jess Jasch, or https://j-leigh.com.au/ - I’d love to hear from you!

Interested in booking a free consult to discuss wellbeing consulting, or embodied leadership coaching for you or your team? Book your time here: https://calendly.com/jess-jasch/book-zoom-now

Transcript

Hey, everyone.Welcome to another episode of Get Jasched.Today, we are very, very fortunate to have Roman Abasy with us.And Roman is a professional Taekwondo athlete originally from Afghanistan, having previously represented Afghanistan in Taekwondo on the world stage.He is the founder of the Smile Charity Foundation in Afghanistan, supporting disadvantaged communities through education, mental health initiatives, and access to sport to build better futures.Roman then came under threats related to a- his advocacy, forcing him to leave Afghanistan and resettle here in Australia.So now, Roman dedicates his efforts to empowering refugees and culturally and linguistically diverse communities through inclusive sport, recreation, and community programs that promote wellbeing, connection, and opportunity.So, you know, no big deal.No, no, like, no shortage of things that you're doing.But Roman, I'm so pleased to have you as a guest on the podcast, and I'm so appreciative of you coming on here and sharing your time and energy with us.So thank you.Thank you very much, uh, Jess.Thanks for your time.I really appreciate that, that you give me a time to speak about different things.Yeah.Uh, thank you very much.Oh, no, you're so welcome.I mean, this is a, this is a life experience that a majority of us white Australians particularly, you know, just do not know.Yeah.Um, and, and in many cases can't even comprehend.So, um, yeah, I'm, I'm grateful for you, for sharing your story.Um, you fled Afghanistan in 2021.Is that right?Yeah, yeah.Actually, when the Taliban take over Afghanistan in two thousand, two thousand and 21.Mm.At that time, I contacted the, uh, International Olympic Committee and also the Australian Olympic Committee.Mm.And, uh, I was in Afghanistan for 6 more month, uh, waiting for my visa status.And I left Afghanistan on 2022.And I was in Pakistan as well for a few months, and after that I came to Australia.Yeah.So, was that, that moment of initiating, um, you leaving Afghanistan, was that around the fall of Kabul andOr did that happened in August of 2021?Yeah, yeah, yeah.Yup.Yeah, I actually ended up in, on August 2021.Um, I was in Afghanistan for 5 or 4 months.Yeah.And I was, uh, uh, staying one of my, um, not one of, many of my relatives' houses.Because the Taliban, they were looking for me and they visit many times my house that I lived there f- with my family.And they thought, uh, I, uh, I already leave Afghanistan for that.I was in different area and different places.And after a few months, I leave Afghanistan.Mm.Yeah.So you were sti- yeah, so you were still there for months.Yeah, yeah.I was there, I was there.It's actually, uh, I got married on, uh, um, 10th of July 2021.Oh.It's almost one month that the Taliban took over Afghanistan, and unfortunately no one know about that, no one thinks that, in one night everything change, uh, like millions of life change.And yeah, it was very bad day for me, for all the people of Afghanistan.And still is going, and it's very bad day for everyone.Yeah.What were you, the circumstances that led to you realizing that you needed to leave, that you needed toI assume you, you know, you'd got your wife and- Yeah.your immediate family and you realized you had to leave.What were those circumstances for you?Yeah, yeah.The main point because before the Taliban take over Afghanistan, I had a not-for-profit organization, and I was founder of, uh, Smile Charity Foundation.Mm-hmm.And we support the disadvantaged communities in Afghanistan, especially womens and girls, and we provide them free sport and recreation activities.We encourage them, uh, the free sport and, a- and recreation activities.And also, uh, we provide them to join the c- school because, uh, in Af- uh, in Afghanistan, um, the womens and girls are not allowed to join the sport activities or go to the school.And we encourage everyone and, um, beside that, I support the Afghanistan national, uh, security, uh, like the police, the army, when they fight against the Taliban and they died, and we support their families, especially financially.And when the Taliban take over Afghanistan, they are looking for those people that they are against them and they support the opposite people, like the Afghanistan people.And they target me, my family, uh, they went to our house many times, and some of my relatives was on that time in the prison, and they were looking for me, and they said, "Roman is out of Afghanistan."Um, uh, all these, these things was the reason that I leave Afghanistan, and I'm sure if they catch me, I will face a lot of issues in prison, evenMany people, they easily, they kill people on the street and in the prison, and, um, it was very dangerous for me and my family to be stay in Afghanistan.Mm-hmm.So, you said that you spoke to, you were able to get in contact with the International Olympic Committee as well as the Australian Olympic Committee.Yeah, yeah.Um, because you had, you had, you were an Olympian, soYeah.Actu- actually I, I, um, I represent Afghanistan- Yeah.2 time in world championship, and for more than 15 years I was a member of Afghanistan national taekwondo team.And I represent Afghanistan for more than 30 international championships.I didn't attend the Olympic Games, but- Mm-hmm.I represent for like more than 15 years- Yeah.the Afghanistan in the international stage.And for that, uh, I don't have actually, I don't have any direct contact with the IOC and AOC, Australian Olympic Committee.But when, uh, the Taliban took over Afghanistan, I reach out to everyone, and the Australian Olympic Committee was one of those organizations that I reach out to them.Unfortunately, the CEO of Australian Olympic Committee, on that time Matt Carroll was the CEO- Mm-hmm.he responded to my email that, "We will happy to support you and your family."And he send me email, lots of documents, form, I fill all the forms, and it was a, a procedure of applying for the Australian visa.And after that, the large number of group of people, like many of my friend, they are my, most of them is my friends now, and they are working in different organizations.They support us to come to Australia.Mm-hmm.That's massive.That's such a massive deal- Yeah.to, to- Yeah.Actually, we were, we were very happy because, because of my background as a human rights defender, as an athlete- Mm-hmm.they support us.Not just me, like more than 100 people, the Australian Olympic Committee, they support them, in different sport, different groups.Mm-hmm.And, uh, they bring them here.Not just Australian Olympic Committee, many other organizations as well, they support, like the Afghanistan womens football team, the cricket team, and many, many other groups.Even the mus- uh, some group of, uh, singers, some group of judge, some group of like different group that they were under threat, and they are now, uh, living in Australia.We, we are very lucky that we have, we are in here, and we have support of the Australia and Australian people.Yeah, definitely.Well, I mean, it's such important work that you do as well.And, uh, you know, you said it started with the Smile Charity Foundation over in Afghanistan.Mm-hmm.Yeah.What was the kind of work that, that you guys were doing there?Yeah, we, we, mostly we focus, uh, um, to support the kids in Afghanistan, and they are the only group that they face ma- with many issues in Afghanistan, with like the child mar- child marriage, and they do, like the forced work, they are not working, and they don't have access on the education, on the sport.And we support, uh, those people.And also, as I mentioned before, we support, uh, the Afghanistan security forces as well, their families.And we support the people with disability, we support them through thewe donate them wa- uh, wheelchair.And, um, many things we do, because, uh, we did in Afghanistan.And, uh, when I came to Australia, uh, they just say, uh, when, when some people ask me, "Do you have any experience?"I told them, uh, "I was a founder of an organization in Afghanistan.""More than, like 40 f- uh, 55 people working there as a full-time."Wow.Yeah.uh, there's a lot of people there working as a casual and volunteer.Um, uh, in Australia, I think it's very important to have a local experience.Mm-hmm.But when I share them about this, no one believe because, because they just see us as a person who is refugee and don'tif your English is not good, uh, because my English was not good on that time- Mm-hmm.they don'tthey just think that you don't know about anything.Uh, I think the community workers, the same everywhere.In Afghanistan or Australia, you're finding that, uh, issue in somewhere or there is a gap in, in somewhere, and you wanna fill that and you wanna support.And, yeah, yeah.We, we do, we did, uh, everything, uh, lot of thing, uh, things in Afghanistan.Besides that, we, we, we had a lot of advocacy work as well for the, uh, womens, for their education, for the human rights issues happening in the Afghanistan for the last 20 years.And lots of big, big campaigns like in social media and, um, yeah, we have written a lot of protests in Afghanistan against of many things that happening on that time.And we were very active in Afghanistan.Mm.At that time, yeah.Yeah.Was it challengingObviously, um, the situation has deteriorated since 2021 there in Afghanistan with the Taliban taking over.But was it challenging even when you did set up the foundation?Was it, umWas it pushing back against a lot of the beliefs that were perhaps- Yeah.sort of the structural beliefs that were already in place there?Yeah, at that time, the main challenge was, again, the Taliban.Because they have access and control of some of the province and local areas in Afghanistan.Mm-hmm.And when they saw thesome of our activities on that time, they reach out to us and they warn us many time to don't say anything, we don't allow to say anything about the Taliban, and they treat us on that time.But on that time, there was a government then.Uh, they don't have access that much on the capital of Afghanistan, on the cities.But, yeah, the big challenge was the Taliban on that time, and still the Taliban is the big challenge and, um, I'm sure in the future as well they are the challenge for Afghanistan, for Afghanistan people.Yeah.Are youLike, 'cause you just mentioned as well, you know, you talk a lot more about the Taliban now.You share a lot about, you know, the issues that are being faced by different groups of people, particularly for women, especially for children.Is there any fear, like, 0 or of talking about it more now orYeah.Actually, yeah, yeah.Yeah, I'm scared a little bit now as well because still some of my relatives there in Afghanistan.Since I came to Australia, 3 of my relatives, uh, they, the Taliban, they catch them and one of them was in prison for more than 6 month.And now they release them as well.And still, when I'm in here in Australia, still I am scared a little bit.I have a fear because I think few months ago, I saw there was a protest in front of, uh, University of New South Wales or Western Sydney Univer- no, it was, I think U- New South Wales.Mm-hmm.Some people, they hold a Taliban flag in front of the, uh, university and it's in Sydney, and when I saw that flag, I realized that I, I escaped from that flag, flag to Australia, and now, I see that flag in here on Australia and I'm sure some people in here as well, they have the Taliban thoughts and they're supporting Taliban in different ways, on social media, in some people gathering and in their discussion.And still I'm scared about it even when I'm Australia because, uh, unfortunately, I'm not sure it'sthey have some rights in here and they're s- supporting the Taliban and there's not that much rules to control them and I think it's very important topic as well that there's a lot of people, millions of people, they escape from Taliban and they, now they saw some sign of Taliban in Australia.And it's very dangerous for the Australian community as well.wegenerally, we tend to think that we're, we're pretty safe because, you know, we're like, "Oh, it couldn't happen here.It's Australia," and all of these.And I'm not speculating, I don't- I don't know otherwise, but like, I imagine that seeing these things, like, you know, those flags pop up and, and- Yeah.seeing that, that, um, that would feel confronting and, and I think confronting for everyone, but especially for someone like you who's- Yeah, yeah.You've lived through it.Unfortunately, the main reason, uh, some people, they don't know about the flags, which the flags is the Taliban flags, and which sign is the Taliban sign in Australia.And the way they're talking, the way they're posting, the way they'reimagine some people, they're, they're, they're just lobbying for Taliban, they're just, uh, organizing an event and they're saying, uh, they're saying that now Afghanistan is a safe, it's a good country, you know, the Taliban.It's in a, in, not direct way, but indirect way, you're supporting Taliban because you're not seeing the reality.The reality is completely different from the ground.Yes.And you're supportingthey're not naming the Taliban, but they're saying Afghanistan is safe.It means Afghanistan is controlling by Taliban and safe, but they're not saying direct.And but when weas, uh, Afghanistan people, we know that they're playing with the wars, and they're lobbying for the Taliban.Yeah, it's very, it's very much like propaganda in a way.Yeah, yeah, yeah.Um, you do speak a lot about the humanitarian crisis, um, that all, everyone is experiencing, uh, still in Afghanistan because of the Taliban.Um, you share a lot, you know, on platforms like LinkedIn, uh, but you've had news and media outlets pick up some of these stories because of- Yeah.what you share.Yeah.Tell us more about what that kind of impact feels like for you.Yeah.Mostly, uh, before I came to Australia, I was active in other, uh, social media like, uh, Facebook and Instagram, and I have like more than 100,000 followers in different social media accounts.But, uh, when I came to Australia, uh, I realized that the people, they are more active on LinkedIn than theI'm not sure I'm correct or not because I saw many people use Instagram as Facebook as well, but I find, uh, found, uh, uh, LinkedIn more like proper and good place for promoting the, uh, uh, my campaign, what I believe.Uh, I prefer touh, one of the reason, other reasons, because most of my LinkedIn friend- friends is allthey're Australian, and there's no Afghans in, my friends in LinkedIn.For that, I choose LinkedIn and I start the campaign.Uh, and still I'm writing about, uh, uh, issues and, uh, uh, in Afghanistan, the Taliban, that their, their rules, the rules against the womens, against the people of Afghanistan, and the con- and the good things that, uh, now, uh, especially the Australian community, they know more about the Taliban, about the Afghanistan people, about the womens and what's happening in Afghanistan.And some of the media, they reach out to me and they said, "Can you give us more information about this issue?We want to publish that one."And I saw many, uh, important, uh, articles that now they publish in different, uh, uh, Australian media.And, uh, now they are about Afghanistan and some of them s- that I- I wrote in my LinkedIn and, uh- Mm-hmm.because they are expert on that and they make that, uh, simple like news as a article and they publish on their platforms.Uh, it's very important for, for me and for our Afghan people that the world and the Australia and, and other countries must know about what's happening inside Afghanistan.Yeah.I, I personally, I agree.I think it's important that we, we step outside of our own bubbles.Like, you know- Yeah.actually, you know, we can't, we can't live through that ourselves.You know, we can't experience that ourselves vicariously, but at least being aware of what other people are going through.Um, you recently put up a post on LinkedIn more or less apologizing to people because it wasn't- Yeah.professional content.Yeah.And I know I commented on that, but I- Yeah.It's because I feel strongly, I'm like, "No, we can't bury our heads in the sand."We have to- Mm-hmm.We have to talk about these things and we, you know, and, and yes, we use our busine- 'cause LinkedIn is a professional platform.Yes, we use our businesses to, you know, to create more income and money, but I also think that that's how then we can help more when we are more resourced in that way too.So it's- Yeah.It gets to be both.But whyin your words, why is it important for all of us to share and speak out about these kinds of injustices that are happening even if they are in a diff- different country to us here?Yeah.Yeah, uh, actually, uh, recently, I, I, I saw news that the Germany accepted 2, uh, Taliban diplomats, uh, in Germany.Now-if, if we don't speak about them, I'm sure the next step will be Australia or any other countries.Mm-hmm.If we keep open this discussion and we discuss about these issues, I am sure there is a lot of people.Because in my f- list of friends, I have so many MPs, many minister, all of them f- they are in Australia.Uh, they have a good position in Australian government.When, when they saw this type of issues happening in Afghanistan, I am sure they will stand against.They will, "No, we are not accepting any Taliban diplomat in the future.We don't want to be any diplomatic, uh, relation with Afghanistan, with the Taliban-looked Afghanistan."Um, it's really important to talk about that, um, uh, I'm sure if there is any organization want to support the Afghanisthan womens, like, they want to support them to evacuate from Afghanistan or maybe, uh, remove themnot remove.ƒ.I forgot the word.How can we use?If you, like, if you, if you wi- if you find a way to evacuate them from Afghanistan to the safe country, uh, there is a lot of organization working on Australia.And also, some organizations in, especially in education part, they can offer some online classes, like the- Mm-hmm.uh, online school classes for them.Because in Afghanistan, there is no school, there is no nothing for them.Um, it's the only reason that I post about all these topics is that we can, we can put that in front of everyone what's happening in Afghanistan.If you want to support them, even if you, if, in a word, it means a lot for us, for our community, for our people.If youUh, the only thing that we are scared, we don't wanna, uh, we don't want that the people and the other countries, they take Taliban like normally, they are normal people, they are not part of Afghanistan.We want to show the reality of the Taliban, that they are an international terrorist group and they are against the humanity, uh, they are against the womens, they were, they are against even they are against the Western countries.They are against all the non, uh, Muslim people in the world.And they are saying, "We are the only, uh, people that the God choose us and we are better than others."And all these type of ideas they have, and they are now controlling, like, millions of people.Mm.They're against all of, like, ev- everyone else, but they're also not- Yeah.exactly for their own people anyway, right?Yeah.Like, you know, the- And they're against their people as well because in Afghanistan, um, uh, we have around 32 or 33, uh, millions population in Afghanistan.Mm.And just maybe 300,000 of them is Taliban.Not like millions of people.Just now a group, a small group of terrorist group, they support like 1000000, more than 3 mil- 30 millions people.Even in Afghanistan, it's not just womens.Like, half of them is a woman, like 50 millions people, they don't like Taliban and their minions as well.Um, because they have the support of some big countries and for that they are controlling Afghanistan.Yeah.Yeah.That's it.WhatIt's sort of, it's a lead-on question, it's a little bit similar, but you speak very specifically about what children face, um, the child labor, the, um, the, the early ma- like the child marriages, and what women face, especially women in sports, because, you know, sports is, is very much your background as well- Yeah.and your experience, and how you experience community and bring community together.What is it that we can d- we can do more here?And the reason I ask that as a follow-on question is because I think that there's an element of we can take things for granted here, we can take education for granted here.Mm-hmm.Um, becauseAnd, and it's human nature in a way of, you know, when we just always know something, then of course we take it for granted.But we can also choose to appreciate it for what it is as well- Yeah.and to recognize.And I think hearing other stories helps us recognize that.What is it specif- again, just so I, so we can hear it in your words, what is it specifically about those things that feel important to talk about and to advocate for here?Yeah.Yeah, actually in Afghanistan everything is important because of- Mm-hmm.the regime that they are controlling the people of Afghanistan.I think the big issues now, it's that the, it's the child marriage in Afghanistan, um, uh, because each one of the Taliban, they have now 4 wives according to their beliefs.And they are marrying like for the kids underEven the last time, they marrying for kids with 6 years old, and the, the man is 43 years old.Mm.And, um, I shared about that and, uh, uh, the good thing is when I shared these topics, one of the lady, she's an Australian, she contact me, "Can you find the family for me that they are on the similar, uh, positions?"But because most of the time they wanna buy, um, they wanna sell their kids for feeding the other kids, especially the boys, and they wanna buy thesell the, um, uh, girls.And we are trying to find a, a family that they are in the similar, uh, position, and we wanna support them financially to, "Don't do this.Don't sell your daughter."And this is the one small impact we have.Oh.And, um, uh, uh, uh, b- I think education is very important as well, and still, uh, we are encouraging the people, especially the Australian community, that we have a large number of, uh, girls in Afghanistan, around 100s in a group.And we have some teachers as well.The only thing we need, we need some, like, connection with the, uh, some education organization on Australia and they can provide, like, the online classes for them, like English classes or computer classes.Uh, once they, they, they, they learn English, they can easily apply for some scholarships, some, like, other things.They can easily leave Afghanistan.And itI'm sure it takes a long time, but w- w- we can just set this up.We ve- we need to do something, uh, um.I think education is very important as well.And the good thing is there is different, lots of people in here, they want as well to support them.Um, because of the Taliban, it's very limited.We have access in Afghanistan to support them directly, the people, but there's still, there's a lot of way that we can support them.Mm-hmm.Yes.Definitely.And, like, education is also important, because the more educated that someone is, the, the less opportunity they have to be oppressed, you know?Yeah.In at least some ways, there's a lot that's outside of the circumst- outside of their control of the circumstances as well.But if, if these people, if these women and children learn how to read and write- Yeah.that gives them so many more opportunities that- Yeah.like you said, you know, they can get scholarships.They can- Yeah.I think the only reason that the Taliban is scared from the womens is the education.Mm.Because in my belief, uh, an educated woman will not, like, born a Talib.Mm-hmm.They will, they will, they will try to, born, like, a baby, like, a normal person, not the Taliban, Talib person.For that, they are scared for womens.They closed the s- universities, the schools, everything.And, uh, I saw many videos of those Taliban and their beliefs about why they are, um, banning womans.And they openly said that, "We're scared from the womens, like educated woman.They stand in front of us and they, they say that, 'This my right and this is my rights.'" And if you ban the school education, they will do, notthey'll know about their rights.Mm-hmm.And it's the only thing.And they are scared a lot from the womans, than the mens.I am not sure what's the- For sure.There is a lot of reasons, but- Yeah.every time they are fighting against womans.So interesting.Yeah.Such a interesting psychological thing that happens there.But tell us about, umTell us about the work you're doing now, now that you're here.Yeah.I mean, we've touched on bit, bits and pieces.Yeah.Absolutely.Yeah.That's great.Yeah.But, yeah, I wanna know about the work you do here now.Yeah.Uh, one more thing before I respond to your question.Yes.On LinkedIn as well, I'm not just posting every time about Afghanistan.Because if you post one thing every time, it will be a little bit bore for people who are following you or wanna see or wanna read your posts.Uh, I post about my work in Australia as well, about my, uh, refugee s- uh, journey, about my experience, my friends' experience, my community, d- different communities.Uh, currently, I'm working as a youth settlement worker.There is an organization that they support refugees and migrants, uh, through their settlement journey in Australia.Mm.When they came to Australia, we support them in the first 5 year.We support them in different ways.If they need anything withif they have an issue, if they need anything with the government, with the school, with likeif they are looking support through the Centrelink, Medicare, or if they are looking for free sport, free, uh, activities, or if they have an issue with, uh, mental health.We, we support them in different ways.A- anything they need, they reach out to us and we refer them to other organizations.WeIn some parts, we refer them.We, we support them through our organizations.If they receive some electricity bill, if they receive some, like, gas bill, we support them as well financially.And we have asome food voucher as well, we support them.And anything they need as, we, we willwe willwe'llwe support them.Mm.And what is some of the outcomes that can happen from this support for those people?Yeah, yeah.Th- the good thing is thatespecially in my work that I'm working with youths, uh, I encourage them a lot to start their own businesses and, um, mostly we bewe del- we, we organize some workshops for them.We organize some, uh, programs for them.We have lots of youths since I came to this organizations.Now, they have a s- small businesses because we refer them to the organizations that they support them financially and also on the planning everything.Um, they are now in different sport team as well.Because my passion is sport, I, I support them most through the sport and recreation.Every time I use the sport as the strongest tool to support them.Mm-hmm.Like, mentally and physically.And, um, yeah.There's l- there's a good outcome and, uh, we are happy to support them.Yeah, of course.What is it about sport, do you thinkI mean, I know what we know, but what is it about sport do you find is so helpful for people to, you know, build confidence, or to build their abilities, or to- to feel- Yeah.better in themselves or in their lives here as well?Yeah.Yeah, the good things when I come to Australia, um, uh, I work with many organizations.Like, previously I worked at an organization that they are just focusing on sport and recreation, and that organiz- organization mostly support those individuals that they are facing mental ill, trauma, social isolation.And, uh, we organized many programs.In one ch- in one particular programs, we organize a football program, and it was- Mm-hmm.for the refugee communities.And, uh, uh, we have, uh, weS- one organization refer a- a- a- Iraqi, uh, maybe there was a boy, 24, 25 years old, he joined our, uh, program, and on the first week, he was very scared, he don't talk with other people and friends, uh, he will just stand alone in a place.On the second week, he start talking, and heBy third week, he find a friend, and also, uh, we start the talking and laughing with others.And on the- on the last ter- uh, week, it was a 10-week program, he completely find, uh, new friends, new groups, and he- he shared some photos in social media with them, they went with the family gathering, they- the family meet each other, and now they are completely friend.And without the sport, there was no way that we connect them with others, and this is the outcome about the sport that it was very easy for us to bring a person in a community, and we use the sport.Every time, I use the sport, and now they are friend with each other, and it is the power of sport.Mm.Um, we have a lot of experience of this type of issues with, there- there was a girl and, uh, she face a lot of issue when she was in Afghanistan and with Taliban.When she came here, she was in the same situation with the trauma, with mental ill, and social isolation, a lot of issues.And we invited them in one of the art session we had in here just for girls, and different girls with different countries, and she- she was the same thing, she did, like, she find new friends, she connect with them in social media, now they are with each other and they are connecting with each other.And this all the p- power of sport and recreation.Mm.And that power of community and- and common places to find common connections- Yeah.Yeah, yeah.es- especially when you mentioned, you know, there's definitely trauma involved, there's definitely this whole- Uh-huh.experience of this background that- Yeah.you know, people are thrust into a new country and, and- Yeah.what does that feel like?So, yeah, giving people that common access to- Yeah.something to connect to, to then connect with each other, um, it just sounds so important and so useful.And it- it really sounds like you're doing amazing work as well.Yeah.Thank you.And the good thing's that in sport we don't need the language.Yeah.You need just movement, just pass the ball and goal and shoot, yeah, it's the good things about sport.And then it creates, like, you know, there's also that body experience, it creates the feel-good feelings in the body- Yeah.of, you know, like- Yeah."Oh, I'm moving my body," or "I feel"- Yeah."you know, stronger," or "I, oh, I- I go- I made that goal, oh."Yeah, yeah.Like, you know, it's any of- it's any and everything there, and- Yeah.Yeah.And- and- and- and the funny thing is we- I- I discussed this, uh, it was, I think, uh, in a panel discussion, and there was a person who represent the music, and I said, "The- the power of sport," and he said, "The power of music."And, and one time we said that, "Yeah, sport, music have also the power, and sport ha-" and he said that, "I think music is better than sport."He, I said, "No, sport is better."He said, "We have dance as well."And I said, "No, dance is part of sports, part of movement.If you remove dance from music, there's nothing."Yeah.And it's also, again, sport, yeah.I love sport, and even sports not just, um, for me it was completely different because- Mm-hmm.uh, I started my life with sport like as a, when I was, um, maybe in 2005 I was 10 or 11 years old, I started tae kwon do and the organizat- uh, my education was in a sport and education like, um, um, it's a education, yeah, I forgot the name of, uh, in English.It's again, a sport, uh, education.I, I have a, uh, bachelor on that.Um, after that my organization that I founded was just, we support the people through sport.Uh, when the Taliban took over Afghanistan the sport saved my life- Mm-hmm.and I came to Australia, and when I came to Australia my first job was in sport, and now again I am supporting the community through sport.I'm not sure I'm involved lot from my early life until now with sport, and sport come in front of me in different ways, not just, just like the physical activity, and- Uh-even when I was like in a bad s- situation in Afghanistan and dealing with social isolation and mental, uh, I went to the gym on that time.It was the, not gym, just a physical activity, and I get the help from sport, and sport support me in different ways, in different part of my life.Yeah.Yeah.That's so great.That's- Yeah.that's incredible to hear.What is, before you leave us today, what is one thing that you would want just the, the everyday Australian to know or, yeah, what is something that you would want them to know in order to- Yeah, yeah.help support or whatever, yeah, in, in any, I won't direct it too much.What is something that you think the everyday Australian that you'd want them to know?I think the only thing that they need to do when they wake up in the morning, they must say, uh, that, to themself that, "Thanks God that you're in Australia.We live here in this country with this kind of opportunity we have, with this community they have," and they must be thankful a lot for that.Mm-hmm.Because they don't have experience of living like in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and any, lots of countries, and I think, uh, they're very fortunate, they're very lucky that they're, uh, uh, living in Australia and they must be thankful for that, for their God, and if they believe, uh, for anything they believe, they must be thankful for that, and they're living in Australia.Mm.And not take it for granted as well.Yeah.'Cause like I said at the beginning, you know, this is an experience that, and I, I, I highlight white Australians just very specifically because, you know- Yeah.we are, we are very fortunate and the majority of us- Yeah.Yeah.Yeah.have no concept of what that would, experience would be like.Yeah.And, and, you know, the resilience that that requires as well.SoAnd the good things they are very good listener, uh, they are very supportive- Mm-hmm.especially with me, uh, they support me, my family, my siblings when they came to Australia, my community, and the other communities as well.Mm-hmm.And to be honest I'm very thankful to the all Australians, to the Australia that they support us, they give us new opportunity, and they give us new life in here.Oh.I'm so glad.So where can, if people want to find or support or follow you and just learn more just by everything you share, whether it is about, you know, one topic or another, where can people connect with you?Yeah.The best, uh, uh, uh, platform is the LinkedIn that I use mostly, and uh, my name is Roman Abasy on LinkedIn.R-O-M-A-N A-B-A-S-Y.I'll include the link as well just so people- Oh, that's great, yeah.can find it as well.If, if that's helpful.So that sounds great.Well, thank you so much for your time and for sharing everything that you have.I know it, it, um, it might, it must not always be, feel easy to do and to tap back into, but your work is so important and I'm so grateful for you sharing your time and energy with us today.Thank you very much Jess.Thanks for your time, and I really appreciate that.