Noor Kabir: Boy from Rohingya refugee camp wins Brisbane bodybuilding championship
"Clean water was a problem too. We couldn't afford three meals, sometimes we had to eat once a day"
Noor Kabir, a 25-year-old youth won the Brisbane bodybuilding competition ICN Classic in Australia recently and will compete in national version in September.
Learnt to live in a strict diet while surviving on rations in refugee camp, Noor hopes his dedication will inspire other refugees to pick up weights in any situation and eat healthy, reports ABC News.
His Rohingya parents were already in the refugee camp when he was born.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
"When I lived in the camps, I struggled with food — not enough food, not enough carbs, not enough drink," he said.
"Clean water was a problem too. We couldn't afford three meals, sometimes we had to eat once a day."
"We couldn't go outside the camp and so we had to rely on rations and that was never enough – especially after we'd grown up."
"We lived … seven people in a room that'd be … 5 square metres."
"I lived like this for 15 years – it wasn't a good life, so I wanted a new beginning."
The search for 'a good life'
Noor Kabir came to Australia alone by boat when he was 16.
He never even told his mother of his plans.
"She didn't hear from me for two weeks and was quite upset and crying a lot when she found out because she thought I'd been killed by Bangladeshis," he said.
"She wouldn't allow me to come, but I couldn't stay any longer and wanted to see a good life."
After spending two years in community detention in Australia, he was given a bridging visa.
He got a job as a forklift driver, but meeting volunteer refugee tutor Phil Nixon in 2017 took his life in a new direction.
"I'd go to the gym with friends just for fun or something to do," he said.
"Phil said that I was quite good at that and I should probably start studying fitness."
They met in 2017 through mutual friends in the Brisbane Rohingya community.
Mr Nixon said Noor Kabir was initially "reserved" and "unsure" about pursuing bodybuilding, but believed he had the inner strength "to do something really amazing".
"I wanted to give him a little bit of a push in that direction by being a friend who kind of got behind him and said, 'Why don't you just really go for this?'," he said.
"I think he had dreams, but he didn't feel like he could really seriously consider them and work towards them – a bit held back because of the lack of opportunities that he'd had in the past."
'A fire lit inside him'
Noor Kabir began studying to become a qualified personal trainer.
His growing passion for fitness combined with an intense desire to represent his Rohingya roots by doing something "different".
Bodybuilding attracted him and last year he was referred to fitness coach, Simon Strockton.
"I didn't know anything about bodybuilding or the competitions, but I wanted to go there and represent my people," Noor Kabir said.
"I knew that [Strockton] trained people for shows, so I went to him and told him about my background and what I wanted to do."
Mr Strockton said he saw immediate potential in Noor Kabir and was inspired by his story.
"I always find that people who haven't come from a lot are the hardest workers because everything has always been harder for them to get and they just accept that you have to work hard to get something," Mr Strockton said.
"He told me his reasons for competing and he told me about his background … and what it meant to him to show people in his home country that you can achieve whatever you want to achieve and I coached him for free — I found it that inspiring."
The duo started working towards competing.
Mr Strockton said while Noor Kabir did well in his first show, he was upset he did not come first and started training and dieting harder for the ICN Classic, which was due to take place a fortnight later.
He won that competition.
"It was almost like there was like a fire lit inside him … honestly just blew the whole place apart. I couldn't believe the difference in two weeks of the guy… [it] just shocked me," Mr Strockton said.
Fasting amid a strict training regime
Mr Strockton said it was all the more impressive because Noor Kabir was fasting for Ramadan through the competition.
"As soon as he finished the last show, he went into Ramadan.
"Can't eat in the day, can't drink in the day and he's just doing it, he's just making it work, just relentless … he's getting all his food and his drinks when he's allowed to and training at night.
"I don't think most people have that certain willpower and desire to achieve something … but he's so humble. I would definitely say it's a rare trait."
He said Noor Kabir had impressed many in the fitness community.
"I told them a little bit of his story … and everybody was just kind of really astounded by what he achieved."
Mr Nixon said his success was a testament to his hard work and discipline.
"When I was a teenager at school, there were opportunities for physical education at school … also outside of that, opportunities to participate in recreational sports," Mr Nixon said.
"While I had those things, he was on a boat to Australia."
Noor Kabir said he was proud to be the first Rohingya man to win a bodybuilding competition in Queensland.
"My refugee background is my strong point," he said.
"I was already fighting in the refugee camp, I just took that fight into my training."
"I want to represent my people by competing … not just in Australia, in the world."
He is also studying to be a nutritionist and hopes to impart his knowledge to those he left behind in Bangladesh.
"It's tough — some family members and friends don't have enough to eat still," he said.
"It's hard to get in touch regularly because internet has been an issue recently.
"There's a lot of terrible things in the camps. Hopefully fitness can stop someone from doing those."
