Publications
Partners
We tend take education for granted in most places and I don’t think our children appreciate the freedoms they have.
As women we are to be able to educate ourselves and our children, especially our daughters.
On Saturday at breakfast, a friend was chatting about her studies.
We discussed which tertiary institution our children plan to go too; yet there are “girls” being attacked for daring to even ask to be educated in some certain countries.
Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old Pakistani girl, was shot in the head by the Taliban.The news went viral, and caused shock waves globally.
She was on her way home from school when gunmen stopped her bus.
Which one is Malala? one of the men reportedly asked the students. And then they opened fire. A teacher and another girl were also wounded in the attack.
She is recovering in a hospital in Peshawar; she is “out of danger.” according to news reports, but is she really “out of danger?”
Despite outrage by many in Pakistan and globally, Reuters have reported that the Taliban have vowed to try to kill her again.
Why???
I don’t have a daughter, but I have family and friends whose daughters are either still in school or university; they are receiving an education in preparation for life.
In South Africa, we have children thirsty and eager to learn, but we face challenges of a different kind. To think that any child could be killed for wanting to learn; go to school and contribute her knowledge to the world is just unfathomable to me and shocking.
The Irony of life!
You don't want that your daughter to study, but when she has to go to the doctor, it has to be a female doctor?
This is premeditated murder, it has nothing to do with religion, it’s simply misogynist views.
Tribal Laws and hatred towards women, fear of women "going astray", so what they do, simply shoot them????
When the Taliban banned education for girls in Swat, the region where she lives, Malala refused to be intimidated and became an activist.
She spoke out against the violence she saw around her and she pressed for peace. For this she became revered in her country. As the New York Times recalls:
Malala became well-known in Pakistan as the author of a blog for the BBC’s Urdu-language Web site, Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl, in which she chronicled life under Taliban rule, after the Swat Valley was overrun by the Islamist militants in 2009.
MONDAY 5 JANUARY: DO NOT WEAR COLOURFUL DRESSES
I was getting ready for school and about to wear my uniform when I remembered that our principal had told us not to wear uniforms – and come to school wearing normal clothes instead. So I decided to wear my favourite pink dress. Other girls in school were also wearing colourful dresses and the school presented a homely look.
My friend came to me and said, "for God's sake, answer me honestly, is our school going to be attacked by the Taleban?"
SATURDAY 3 JANUARY: I AM AFRAID
I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taleban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school.
I was afraid going to school because the Taleban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.
Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of Taleban’s edict. My three friends have shifted to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi with their families after this edict.
On my way from school to home I heard a man saying ‘I will kill you’. I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me.
But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone.
What would warrant this heartless shooting?
The belief she could express herself via her blog or her individual thoughts or her dream of educating herself and wanting to be a doctor?
Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, told Reuters in a telephone interview that Malala “was pro-West, she was speaking against the Taliban and she was calling President Obama her idol.”
He admitted that she was young, but said that “she was promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas,” referring to the ethnic group in northwest Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan whose conservative values the Taliban claims to defend.
"The Taliban, who understand the stakes perfectly. They shot Malala because girls’ education threatens everything that they stand for. The greatest risk for violent extremists in Pakistan isn’t American drones. It’s educated girls.
“This is not just Malala’s war,” a 19-year-old female student in Peshawar told me. “It is a war between two ideologies, between the light of education and darkness.”
Education is not only a right but also a responsibility of all males and females.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "Seeking knowledge is mandatory for every Muslim"
("Muslim" is used here in the generic meaning which includes both males and females).
Follow Women24 on Twitter.
Check out Saffiya's blog and follow her on Twitter.
Which part of this message; do some not get????
As women we are to be able to educate ourselves and our children, especially our daughters.
On Saturday at breakfast, a friend was chatting about her studies.
We discussed which tertiary institution our children plan to go too; yet there are “girls” being attacked for daring to even ask to be educated in some certain countries.
Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old Pakistani girl, was shot in the head by the Taliban.The news went viral, and caused shock waves globally.
She was on her way home from school when gunmen stopped her bus.
Which one is Malala? one of the men reportedly asked the students. And then they opened fire. A teacher and another girl were also wounded in the attack.
She is recovering in a hospital in Peshawar; she is “out of danger.” according to news reports, but is she really “out of danger?”
Despite outrage by many in Pakistan and globally, Reuters have reported that the Taliban have vowed to try to kill her again.
Why???
I don’t have a daughter, but I have family and friends whose daughters are either still in school or university; they are receiving an education in preparation for life.
In South Africa, we have children thirsty and eager to learn, but we face challenges of a different kind. To think that any child could be killed for wanting to learn; go to school and contribute her knowledge to the world is just unfathomable to me and shocking.
The Irony of life!
You don't want that your daughter to study, but when she has to go to the doctor, it has to be a female doctor?
This is premeditated murder, it has nothing to do with religion, it’s simply misogynist views.
Tribal Laws and hatred towards women, fear of women "going astray", so what they do, simply shoot them????
When the Taliban banned education for girls in Swat, the region where she lives, Malala refused to be intimidated and became an activist.
She spoke out against the violence she saw around her and she pressed for peace. For this she became revered in her country. As the New York Times recalls:
Malala became well-known in Pakistan as the author of a blog for the BBC’s Urdu-language Web site, Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl, in which she chronicled life under Taliban rule, after the Swat Valley was overrun by the Islamist militants in 2009.
MONDAY 5 JANUARY: DO NOT WEAR COLOURFUL DRESSES
I was getting ready for school and about to wear my uniform when I remembered that our principal had told us not to wear uniforms – and come to school wearing normal clothes instead. So I decided to wear my favourite pink dress. Other girls in school were also wearing colourful dresses and the school presented a homely look.
My friend came to me and said, "for God's sake, answer me honestly, is our school going to be attacked by the Taleban?"
SATURDAY 3 JANUARY: I AM AFRAID
I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taleban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school.
I was afraid going to school because the Taleban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.
Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of Taleban’s edict. My three friends have shifted to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi with their families after this edict.
On my way from school to home I heard a man saying ‘I will kill you’. I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me.
But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone.
What would warrant this heartless shooting?
The belief she could express herself via her blog or her individual thoughts or her dream of educating herself and wanting to be a doctor?
Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, told Reuters in a telephone interview that Malala “was pro-West, she was speaking against the Taliban and she was calling President Obama her idol.”
He admitted that she was young, but said that “she was promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas,” referring to the ethnic group in northwest Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan whose conservative values the Taliban claims to defend.
"The Taliban, who understand the stakes perfectly. They shot Malala because girls’ education threatens everything that they stand for. The greatest risk for violent extremists in Pakistan isn’t American drones. It’s educated girls.
“This is not just Malala’s war,” a 19-year-old female student in Peshawar told me. “It is a war between two ideologies, between the light of education and darkness.”
Education is not only a right but also a responsibility of all males and females.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "Seeking knowledge is mandatory for every Muslim"
("Muslim" is used here in the generic meaning which includes both males and females).
Follow Women24 on Twitter.
Check out Saffiya's blog and follow her on Twitter.
Which part of this message; do some not get????
