"Zhala Sarmast, photographed here in 2015, plays a cover of an Avril Lavigne song in her room while her younger brother and older sister sing along. Sarmast, now seventeen, is still in high school and a part of the Nobel-nominated all-female cycling team that biked across Afghanistan. ""I've got the opportunity to travel and represent my country in a good way, to remove the old idea of Afghanistan being the worst country to live,"" says Sarmast. In addition to cycling, she is perfecting her German skills and studying at the Afghanistan National institute of Music."
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