Author: Yusra Mardini
Yusra Mardini grew up swimming. Her father was a swimming coach, her sister was also a swimmer. By training hard, Yusra managed to become a professional swimmer, competing for Syria in international championships. All she ever wanted was to swim and to, some day, fulfill her dream of going to the Olympics and swimming for gold.
All her dreaming is put on hold when civil war breaks out in Syria. Bombs fall from the sky endangering the lives of everyone she has ever known – one even falling through the roof of the swimming pool centre while she is in the middle of training. Her life is thrown into chaos as her family move from house to house trying to outrun airstrikes and survive.
After years of war, Yusra and her sister decide it is time to follow millions of others who have fled across the sea to Europe in search of a safer and better life, for a place to wait out the war. It is Yusra’s only chance of getting back in a pool and back on the track to achieving her goals.
And so starts a gruelling journey in a flimsy dinghy across a churned-up Mediterranean sea and through numerous borders having to rely on the word of less than truth worthy human traffickers. The ultimate goal: a new home, to be reunited with their family and to swim again.
Yusra Mardini, by opening up about her experiences and writing this book, has given the world a real gift. In a world that sometimes seems to be built on greed, selfishness and distrust, this true story was much needed. The language and style of the writing make the retelling of Syrians struggle towards safety approachable.
It is emotional, it is powerful and it is honest. It isn’t just a retelling of her experiences – in Butterfly Yusra opens up about how she felt, the emotions and thoughts that went through her head during her journey but also once she was approached to be part of the Refugee Olympic Team.
Truly inspirational. A real tale of struggle and survival and of never losing hope. Butterfly is a gift to this world! Thank you, Yusra, for sharing your story.
> Naomi Round
Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian, My Story of Rescue, Hope and Triumph
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