Brent Lewin is
a 26 year old
Canadian from
Toronto living in Kabul
where he is working
for a logistics
company.
You can visit his
website
and see his
photographic
work :
Other articles by
the same author:
by Brent Lewin
There is a place in the heart of Kabul, among many others, where the ceiling looks as if it may collapse any minute. New leaks appear every week, dripping water down on the people below. Improvised plastic sheets are hung from the ceiling to try and control the steady flow of water that trickles down into strategically placed buckets. City power is weak at best and usually non-existent. The small generator that powers the large room is unreliable and as a result the people inside often find themselves in near darkness. There is no heating but the mass of bodies inside seem to generate their own heat and this is evidenced by the eternally fogged up windows. Hindi music videos blare from the television. The all-male gathering inside stares transfixed at the monitor when they are not otherwise preoccupied or chatting with each other. Most people are without shoes and many can be seen at around the same time everyday laying out prayer rugs facing west to Mecca before the afternoon call to prayer. Children make their way though the dense congregation of groaning sweaty men selling snacks only to be chased out by the management. This scene is played out 6 days a week and can be witnessed from 2 in the afternoon to 9 at night. The reason for this gathering? Bodybuilding (of course).
Gold Gym was opened in 2002 in the Russian-era district of Microrayon, after the last of the Taliban loyalists had been flushed out of Kabul. The owner, 29 year old Bowar Khan Hotak, is a former Afghan wrestling champion. With visible pride, he explains how he invested $10,000 to launch Afghanistan’s first “western-style” gym with imported equipment from Iran and Pakistan. At first sight, the 6 foot 7, 290 pound giant may seem a little intimidating but in reality he is a gentle and soft-spoken man who regularly exhibits outbursts of enthusiasm when discussing his favorite topic: weightlifting.
In 1983 during the Soviet occupation, Bowar fled Kabul with his family to find refuge in Pakistan. It was in Pakistan that he first started training and discovered a passion for bodybuilding. Thinking back to his return to Kabul in 1994, Bowar grins and remembers a city without any gym facilities; “Because there were no free weights in the country, people that wanted to lift weights went out and stripped spare parts from abandoned Soviet tanks.” A gear box could be fastened to a rope and pulley to work the triceps. Used parts from armored vehicles were brought to welders. The welders then shaped the now defunct parts into dumbbells. It seems almost poetically ironic that a people who endured 10 years of hardship largely as a result of the Soviet military presence in the end put the Soviet’s abandoned weaponry to us making themselves stronger.
But the late 1990s had bad news in store for Kabul’s enthusiastic would-be bodybuilders and for Afghans in general. In 1996, the Taliban captured Kabul and promptly announced a list of new decrees on Kabul Radio which included bans on many of life’s simple pleasures: music, dancing, television, kite-flying, and singing to name a few. While weight lifting wasn’t banned outright, the attire favoured by weightlifters was. No longer was it acceptable to expose bare legs or arms and this made working out in the summer heat very uncomfortable and in fact, virtually impossible. Such was the situation until 2001. Following the United States-led assault on the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan many of the bans imposed during the late nineties in Kabul were lifted.
At present, Bowar estimates that bodybuilding is one of the fastest growing activities among young men in Kabul. For Bowar, the opening of Gold Gym was not done for money but to help develop Afghan men by teaching them proper bodybuilding techniques. He explains that it costs $1800 each month to run the gym and it is never certain if the expenses will be met. Bowar is rarely seen sitting behind his desk. Instead, he enjoys walking around his establishment smiling, always making a point to shake each and every person’s hand, exchanging customary greetings, and offering advice on technique.
In 2005 Bowar Hotak was elected as the President of the National Bodybuilding Federation, a division of the Afghanistan Islamic Republic National Olympic Committee (NOC). This involves meeting with coaches from gyms around the country, holding workshops, managing gyms in smaller provinces and organizing competitions. In a country that is struggling to find its feet after decades of war and crippling poverty, it is no surprise that funding for the NOC is minimal. Every year there is one nation wide competition held in Kabul to crown Mr. Afghanistan who then goes on to compete abroad. The event is held in a stuffy cinema located in Shar-e-Naw, a modern area of Kabul. The popularity of the event is so great that spectators arrive hours before the competition to secure a seat inside and many are turned away due to the lack of space. Over the course of 70 years Afghanistan has made 12 appearances at the Olympic Games but has yet to compete in the weight lifting category. Bowar believes the biggest obstacle the Federation faces is lack of sponsorship. Foreign competitions held leading up the Olympics are costly to attend. At present, the Minister of Finance sponsors 3 athletes to attend only one of the many competitions held annually.
Until the National Bodybuilding Federation can acquire better funding, Bower will continue to act as a personal trainer for the growing numbers of newcomer bodybuilders at Gold Gym. The monthly membership fee is 300 Afghani ($6). The facility is open to both Afghans and foreigners, though there are only two foreign members. Although Gold Gym is an accomplishment in its own right and clearly a source of great pleasure for Bowar, his ambitions do not end there. It remains to be seen whether Bowar’s hard work, enthusiasm and commitment will be rewarded with an Afghan entry in the weightlifting category, and maybe even his own presence among the proud, flag-bearing faces at the opening ceremonies of future Summer Olympic Games. Everyone has to start somewhere.