Credit/Source: Huffington Post

By Jamail Yogis

I love the way stories spread in this era. A couple of years ago, I flew to Bangladesh and reported a story for AFAR Magazine about a homeless girl, Nassima Atker, who’d miraculously become one of the country’s best surfers. (Yes, there is surfing in Bangladesh.) Despite having to beg for survival, despite being constantly teased and taunted by men and women who say surfing is inappropriate for girls, despite living in a country where 2 million childrensuffer acute malnutrition, Nassima, at just 14, had managed to beat all the local boys in an annual surf contest.

“When I surf,” Nassima told me, “I can finally just be happy and forget about all my problems on land.”

An incredibly talented filmmaker, Heather Kessinger, saw that story, and we just returned to Bangladesh together to make a documentary film about Nassima.

Read more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaimal-yogis/fearless-girls_b_1862486.html