WEBVTT - MALALA: The Story The World Hasn’t Heard Until Now 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:05.960 I was in a coma when so much was happening 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:11.080 about my life and my story was spreading around the world. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.480 I remember my last day of school in Pakistan. I 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.000 was fifteen years old. I was hoping for the next 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:23.720 day to be a normal day, and then something terrible 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.400 happened and I wake up in a hospital in Birmingham 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:30.840 in the UK, and I find myself on a hospital bed, 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:35.040 recovering from injuries, going through severe pains, trying to figure 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:40.320 out what had happened. And you know, I still had 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.120 not even seen what was out there on the media 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:43.640 about me. 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.639 The number one health and wellness podcast Ja Shetty Jay 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:54.800 Sheddy only shed Malala, Welcome to On Purpose. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:57.320 Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.920 I'm so grateful because I've wanted you on the show 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:06.920 for so many years. And I'm actually really, really glad 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:11.520 that it didn't happen before this book, because I don't 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:16.120 think I would have really understood what you were going through, 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.319 who you are, who you're trying to become. And I 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:23.760 feel this book is almost like your reintroduction to the world, 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:26.320 and so I got to get a sense of the 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:30.000 real you. But I'm so grateful thank you for the opportunity. 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:32.200 Thank you so much. It's truly an honor to be 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.280 on your podcast. And I cannot agree more with you 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:39.880 on this. Writing a book like this is like writing 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.760 a journal, and you want to share that journal with 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.480 people out there, hoping that it could help somebody out 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:48.880 there who might be in the same place as you, 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.040 might be feeling lost, may not be able to find 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.920 a way out. So I wrote this book because I 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.880 once needed a book like this when I was going 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:00.680 through difficult times. So my hope is that it helps 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:01.920 people find their way. 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.680 Yeah, it's interesting you say that because in one sense, 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:11.040 your journey is unrelatable because you've seen things that most 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.320 people have not seen. And then at the same time, 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:15.079 when I was reading the book, I'd agree with you. 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.919 There's so much relatability to it in how we're seeing, 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:23.639 how we're heard, how we're understood, how people project their 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:27.360 beliefs and opinions and expectations onto us. And so I 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:29.480 wanted to start off by asking you that you open 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.280 the book with I'll never know who I was supposed 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:37.200 to be, because the world decided who you were before 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:42.040 you got to become Talk to me about how that 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:43.840 felt the first time you understood that. 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:50.280 I was in a coma when so much was happening 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:55.400 about my life and my story was spreading around the world. 0:02:56.400 --> 0:03:00.320 I remember my last day of school in Pakistan, fifteen 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.640 years old. I was hoping for the next day to 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:09.400 be a normal day, and then something terrible happened and 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.320 I wake up in a hospital in Birmingham in the UK, 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:17.120 and I find myself on a hospital bed, recovering from injuries, 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:20.480 going through severe pains, trying to figure out what had happened. 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:25.520 And you know, I still had not even seen what 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.720 was out there on the media about me. You know, 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:33.240 I was like, you know, what does this new life mean? 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:38.360 Do I take on this new journey in a new 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.880 place and how do I recover from the trauma that 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:46.200 I have faced. I knew that the only way I 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.720 can actually have some hope in life is by dedicating 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.040 my life to girls education. So I took on this 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.360 journey to become a girls education activist. I was defined 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:59.520 as a brave, courageous activist. You know, when I learned 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:04.800 more about how I was described in the world, I said, Okay, wow, maybe, okay, 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.760 this is what it means when you survive a terrorist attack. 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.400 This is how you're supposed to live your life, and 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:12.760 and there's not much you can do. You cannot go 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.480 back to the old life. You cannot expect a normal 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:18.240 life because you are now invited to these big events 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.240 and gatherings and you are receiving awards and you are 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.080 getting titles. You have to live up to it now. 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.080 So I said, Okay, it means I cannot have a 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.640 normal life. I cannot be that normal student. I cannot 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:35.200 feel the same love or just have that that normal 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.200 life as as a teenager, you know, as a as 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:41.919 a young woman. So I sort of embraced it. You know, 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.440 you sort of internalize it, and you embrace it whatever 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.839 people say about you and you then you begin to 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:47.840 live up to that. 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:51.119 Yeah, I think it's it's so and like I said, 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:55.000 it's so interesting because what you experienced, and we'll get 0:04:55.000 --> 0:05:02.840 to that is so different and distant from the experience. 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.839 Yet when you say those words of I felt like 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:07.839 I had to live up to how people saw me. 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:08.400 Yeah. 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.479 I think that's a very human thing that we all experience, 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:13.760 except yours was on the world stage. 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:19.320 Yeah, it's important to share that. We begin to internalize it. 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.000 I started saying that it's a sense of responsibility that 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:28.000 I feel because I want myself to live up to 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:32.280 this idea of being a brave and courageous activist advocating 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.279 for girls around the world. I cannot be scared, I 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.320 cannot have fear, and I need to stay committed to 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.880 making a change happen. And at the same time, like 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.840 I'm fifteen years old, I have to be studying at 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.080 the same time, I have to learn so much and 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.760 and try to be a normal student, and then also 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.080 maintain like writing a book and giving speeches and you know, 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:59.160 like receiving a Nobel Peace Prize at age seventeen. I 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:04.480 remember I was still in my school and that morning 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.680 my team asked me if I wanted to stay back 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:12.279 and prepare a media statement just in case. And I said, 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:14.640 are you guys crazy? Do you think a school student 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:16.840 should be receiving a Nobel Peace Prize? So I went 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.479 to my school. I was in my chemistry class. My 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:23.000 school's deputy head teacher walked in and called me outside 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:26.520 and informed me that I had won the Nobel Peace Prize. 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.120 I was like shocked. I said thank you to her. 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.080 I gave short remarks to everybody in the school to 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:35.520 just thank them and talk about the importance of education. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.200 Then I went back to like my physics class, and 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:41.720 I completed my school. Actually, I said, I'm not going 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.000 to do any interviews or anything. I'm going to finish 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.520 my school. You know, that day, I felt that so 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:50.000 many like students sort of looked at me. And I 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:54.160 felt really noticed that day because in this new school, 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.839 I was a very quiet person, and I thought, you know, 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.280 I thought like everybody saw me as an activist and 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:05.640 nobody really wanted to be friends with me. But the 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.520 next day, when everything was back to normal, I felt 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:12.440 that most people turned their faces away and it just 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:16.840 went back to like that normal day. Were I just 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.080 I just you know, wanted to have I wanted to 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.000 have friends, and it, you know, wasn't there. 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.400 Yeah, you do you feel like that made you disconnect 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.080 and distant from your friends and people around you, Like, 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.440 how did it affect you? Yeah? 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.400 I don't really, you know, blame the students at that school. 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:37.880 It was an all girls school. It was in a 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:42.120 completely new country now, different language, different culture. A lot 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.920 of the girls had already made friends. So I was 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.880 a late comer and they had heard about me in 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.440 the news. They had heard the story, and I think 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:56.520 they were feeling awkward in how to approach me. And 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.720 at the same time, I was also so nervous in 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:03.560 starting a conversation. And I actually missed my old life. 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:08.000 I just wanted to be the girl I was in Pakistan, mischievous, 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:13.240 exploring new things, adventurous, chatting with friend all the time 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:20.240 and like copying or like mimicking people's accents and talking about, 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.080 like you know, gossip and all of those things. And 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:27.120 I just thought, maybe, like maybe that's that part of 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.440 my life is is gone. 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.720 Yeah. I love the part where you say they made 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:36.320 me into a mythical heroine. Sometimes the absurdity of it 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.839 made me laugh. You said, growing up in Mingora, I 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.960 was a troublemaker, even on my best day. I was 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.880 not the reticence saint that everyone now claimed I was. 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.800 I know, I was laughing when I read it, but 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:54.000 then feeling sad because yeah, that has real consequences for you. 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:56.040 But it almost made me laugh and I was like, 0:08:56.520 --> 0:09:01.360 oh wow, like Milala, like the Malala sees herself as 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:06.120 a mischievous, you know, funny person who's you know, a 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:09.880 trouble maker. Yeah, Like, tell me about that version of you, 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.200 Like take us back to that version of you. 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:16.400 In Pakistan, I was, you know, still exploring who I 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.520 was as a person, and in school, I was very active. 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.920 I wanted to participate in every competition. I was giving 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.160 speeches and doing debates, and I was also like trying 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:29.839 to sing. I don't know, like I'm like with a 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:34.400 terrible voice, also doing that. My friends and I still 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.640 joke about it that, you know, we just love to 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.800 be doing something all the time. Education is a privilege. 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.319 We knew that it's not something that every girl has 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.160 access to. I thought I was lucky that my father 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:51.319 was so supportive of allowing me to be in school. 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:56.640 So I valued and treasured every moment at school. And 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.559 you know, hear people complain about being in school and 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:01.280 they can't wait for it to finish. It was the 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.000 other way around for us. We wanted to stay in 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.960 school for as long as we could. Because when girls 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:11.319 exposure is limited, and when you live in a patriarchal 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:15.440 society where you cannot really leave your home, so you know, 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.160 you're supposed to stay inside the four walls of a house, 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.400 so school becomes that place of safety for you where 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.200 you can explore things, but at the same time, like 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.320 you know you are you are in a safe place, 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.600 but you can explore the things that you love and enjoy. 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:34.040 So we we loved our time in school, and I 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.440 just wish that I could have all of that in 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.280 the UK as well, in this new school. And somehow 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:41.760 it was very challenging to like make it happen. I 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:45.720 was trying house like participating in almost everything that I could. 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.920 I was signing up for like a two hundred meter race, 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.480 and then I was trying to be part of the 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.480 debating society because I wanted to make friends, not that 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:58.840 I wanted to add more to my personal statement or 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.760 wanted to be an excellent student, like truly, deeply, all 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.400 I wanted was to get an opportunity where I could 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:07.600 like talk to friends. 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.040 Back in Pakistan. When you were saying that you already 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.160 had this gratitude to be an education, how did that 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.040 develop at such a young age, because I feel that's 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.559 often what develops with perspective. How did you have it 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:23.760 at such an early age to recognize the value of education. 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.920 What did you see women go through or what had 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.400 you seen that inspired you to want to value education. 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.680 The scenario of a girl without an education was not 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.560 something that we had to imagine. We were actually seeing 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.760 it right in front of our eyes. We had the 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:45.920 stories of our aunts, of our mothers, of our cousins, 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:50.480 of our siblings, who without an education, missed out on 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.920 the opportunity to have a future that they chose. My 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:59.120 own mother could not learn. It was very uncommon in 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.000 the village for a girl to be even enrolled into school. 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.360 So when she was admitted into a primary school and 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.760 she was the only girl in that classroom, she sold 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:10.920 her books because she said, there's no point no other 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.360 girl is going to a school, and she got some 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.200 candies in return. She never saw a classroom after that. 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.600 It was then years later, when you know, when she 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.319 finally was married to my dad, and my dad has 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.240 been very supportive of like women's rights and girls' education, 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:31.400 she started relearning again. So when I, you know, when 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:35.000 I was seeing how women and girls are asking for 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:37.439 one thing, and that is the right to learn, I 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.520 knew that it was truly a privilege to be in school. 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.199 But I think, you know, the moment when I realized 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.800 that this was not something that girls can access so 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.600 easily and it can be taken away. Was when the 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:51.560 Taliban took over. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.280 What was different about your father's experience that made him 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.600 so aware of this was what was different about his 0:12:58.679 --> 0:12:59.400 upbringing or. 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.920 You know, it's really hard to answer because so my 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:10.960 dad and his brother both received their education while their 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:15.000 five sisters could not. And my dad took a different 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:19.760 commitment that when he has a daughter, he will educate her, 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.600 while his brother did not do the same. So, you know, 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.559 you could be in this in the exact same environment 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:31.160 and you can read and understand it very differently than 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:34.640 the other person, and you can make different decisions. So 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:38.360 for my dad, it was this simple dream where he 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.600 wanted girls to have exactly the same rights as voice, 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.200 and he always questioned why his sisters could not be 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:49.080 in school while he could be. And he knew that 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:52.840 for things to change for women and girls, men have 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:57.560 to change and do better. So he became a feminist 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:02.680 father before he had even heard the feminism. And he 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:04.960 usually says that don't ask me what I did, but 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.040 ask me what I did not do. I did not 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:11.760 clip her wings. So he believes in the autonomy, in 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:15.520 the in the power of women and girls. He says, like, 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:17.400 we don't need to do anything, We just need to 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:21.040 take a step back and give them space. So my 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:25.400 father was an amazing father. I consider myself lucky and 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:29.760 I remind people that my story is not unique. So 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.680 many other girls in my hometown wanted to speak out 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.640 against the Taliban oppression for their right to education, but 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.360 their brothers or their fathers stop them. The only thing 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.720 that's different in my story is that my father did 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:44.400 not stop me. 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:48.560 Well, what a beautiful relationship you have and a gratitude 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.200 that you have for him and incredible, and I can 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:55.400 agree with you more. There's it's amazing that even for 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.920 a woman to gain access the education. Sadly that requires 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:00.680 the permission of a man that space. 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.200 Yes, and it's you know, like it is irritating, You're 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.280 like why it is that way, but it is a 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:11.960 reality if you live in a patriarchal society. We have 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:16.960 to acknowledge that men are in power, they have influence, 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.920 so we have to be engaging them as well. And 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.400 it takes a lot of time to change things. Right now, 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:28.280 when I look at our community in Pakistan, in the 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.320 village that my parents are from, a lot of things 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:34.480 are changing now because when a few fathers step up 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:36.680 and they really redefine what it means to be a 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:41.440 good father, other fathers follow their footsteps. And my father 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:45.800 is spreading this message that true honor lies in standing 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.360 up for women and girls when their rights are taken away. 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:54.040 And you can be fulfilling your role as a father 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.720 when you empower your daughters when they have equal rights, 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.920 when they fulfill their dreams, not that you marry them off, 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.040 like that's not true fatherhood. You give them the education 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:07.400 so they choose their future for themselves. 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.480 Absolutely well said, it's before I look forward to me 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:11.600 and your dad one day too. 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:12.800 You'd love him. 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:17.040 Yeah, that's it's amazing. It's truly incredible. I can't imagine 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.120 how was it challenging for him as well to do that, 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.040 and for the men in very challenging, Like I can't 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.000 imagine the judgment and the kind of criticism. 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:28.040 Yes, I mean, I remember one time I was supposed 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.160 to speak at this press conference and my male cousin 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.720 was asked to help me get to the press conference. 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:37.840 And I was wearing a headscarf but I was not 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:41.840 covering my face. So my cousin just was like really 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:46.280 like irritated by that, because most women are expected to 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:49.600 cover their faces when they're in public, especially when they 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.560 like reach adulthood. But I was still like very little, 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:54.360 and I just did not want to cover my face. 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:58.120 And I remember that cousin just going to my dad 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:02.480 and telling him that or Malala should like cover her face, 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:04.800 and it's just, you know, such a shame to the 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.760 family's name. And my dad told him to mind his 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.320 own business and told him to like just basically like, 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.399 it's none of your business what she does. It's her 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.960 choice whatever she wants to wear. So in those moments, 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:19.959 you know, you do reflect and wonder what if your 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.399 dad had not spoken out for you, things would have 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.280 been different. So it makes a huge difference when people 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.600 become your allies and they stand up for you. 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:34.119 Yeah, at that time, what were your dreams post education? Like, 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:38.679 what were your aspirations before you became the emblem and 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.199 the symbol that you speak about. What were you dreaming of? 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:43.760 What was your hope to do with your education that 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:45.119 you were so grateful to receive. 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:49.040 I mean I had many dreams. I was, you know, 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.040 exploring everything. Initially, I just wanted to be a car mechanic. 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:55.440 Then I said, okay, let's be a doctor, because everybody 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.120 was dreaming to be a doctor or engineer. But when 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:02.080 the Taliban took over our hometown and they banned girls education, 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:06.680 they restricted women from movement outside their houses, and they 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:10.200 were targeting and killing people if they're dared to speak out. 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:13.639 So at that time, I was questioning what our leaders 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:15.960 were doing for us. So I said, okay, you know what, 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.120 I'll become the prime minister and I will fix all 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.320 the problems in the world. Of course, that dream of 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:24.399 mind changed because I realized that if you look at 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:29.200 the world politics, people in leadership positions are rather disappointing 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:35.320 us by not addressing these injustices and these deep rooted problems. So, 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.320 of course my dreams have changed throughout life. But at 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:42.760 the time, I just wanted a different reality, a different 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.520 future for us. I simply wanted girls to be able 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:49.639 to go to school, to not be stopped, to not 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:52.639 be threatened, to not be harmed, to not be killed, 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.680 to learn, and to follow their dreams. I did not 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.720 want people to pick up their guns and target a 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.480 girl simply because she wants to be in school and 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:05.560 she wants to follow her dreams. But this is a reality, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.399 like you know, for women and girls to exist and 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.840 to have equal opportunities or just to have a life 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:16.360 in dignity as a human, they're threatened for that. It's 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.560 really hard to process, but this is a reality like 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.760 so many many women have experienced or are still living through. 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.040 When the Taliban takes over your town, what does that 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:27.520 actually look like and what does that mean for people 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.280 who have no idea what that actually looks like, and 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:33.159 what that means for your rights and what that means 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:34.320 for general living. 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:38.879 I mean, everything changed when the Taliban took over. Initially 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.040 they were just giving religious sermons about you know, the religion, 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:48.720 and then quickly they started announcing these restrictions on women 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:50.840 and girls. That a woman cannot go to a market, 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:55.840 she cannot do a job. They were threatening people who 0:19:55.920 --> 0:20:00.480 were artists, like painters or dancers or musicians. They said, 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:03.399 you know, all of this form of art is also prohibited. 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.439 And then they started like attacking people for it. They 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.480 would announce somebody's name that you know, this person dared 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.880 to disobey our rules and and uh, and then they 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:17.200 were like they would kill them. It was terrifying time 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.160 and then it affected like me directly, and it affected 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:25.080 guls directly when the Taliban announced that no Gul will 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:29.240 be allowed to be in school. And I remember the 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:35.199 day when the band was imposed and I woke up 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:37.639 and I just couldn't go to school anymore because the 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.760 Taliban would be on the roads on the streets, and 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:43.560 and you know, you could not be seen with a 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:47.080 with a backpack or in your school uniform. And I 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.240 remember the morning when my brothers would pack their school 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.639 bags and go off while I had to stay behind 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:58.520 my I think then like a few weeks later, some 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:00.760 of our friends sort of came out with this idea 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.480 that why don't we just go in our home clothes 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:08.760 and like wear a long hefty scarf basically and like 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:11.840 hide our bag and still like make it to school. 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:15.760 So we also like went to school secretly. But it 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:18.320 was I was like, you know, why we should not 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:22.600 be living in a world where girls have to hide 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.520 that their learning. It should be right that every girl 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:30.240 should be freely receiving. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.240 Where did the innovative idea of starting a blog come 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:36.719 from to write about these things that you started to 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:40.080 document and reference and stand up for, Like, where did 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.240 that impetus come from for you to say, I'm actually 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:45.359 going to write about these things. I'm actually going to 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:46.880 document what's happening. 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:50.199 You know, when these horrible things are happening and you 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.960 are living under a terrorism, you just want somebody to know. 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:57.000 It feels like the world is silent and nobody's looking 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:00.280 towards you. So, you know, my father and I were 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:05.320 finding opportunities where we can raise awareness, bring attention to 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.960 what was happening, because if you don't bring attention, then 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:12.560 there's just lack of action as well. So I was 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:16.880 speaking at the local press conferences, we were doing peace walks, 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.679 we spoke to the local media, and then these international 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:24.879 platforms also reached out. So the BBC blog, you know, 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.120 the BBC journalist approached my dad and said that they 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:31.720 wanted a student to share about their life under the Taliban. 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:37.120 So my dad actually asked another gun at the school, 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:42.000 and you know, she shared her blog for one day 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:44.200 and then her father came the next day and said 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:47.320 he could he can't allow his daughter to share her blog. 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:49.560 So when I heard that, I went to my dad 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:51.359 and I said, Dad, like, I want I want to 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:54.520 write my blog. I want to share my story. So 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:56.359 my dad said, okay, like, if you want to do it, 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:59.679 I'll support you. So I started blogging about my life. 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:02.560 I talked about, you know, the last days of school 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:06.440 and then what life was like under the Taliban education ban. 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:10.680 I wanted the world to know what was happening. And 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:16.040