Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Day 1145: I Am Malala

Book club was excellent tonight.  Only six people attended, but I actually prefer the smaller group discussions. It was Nancy's birthday, something in the latter half of the 60s I suspect, and she brought her own oatmeal cake with coconut frosting.   Delicious.  I made vegetable soup that cooked in the crockpot all day.  It was the best I've ever made, perhaps because of the creamy, sweet butternut squash.

As I suspected, only half read the book and most were confused by all political factions, ethnic groups and religious sects.  Malala is a remarkable young woman, but her parents were exceptionally tolerant, generous, secular, liberal, progressive, and rational.   They fell in love and married rather than having an arranged marriage. The father owned and ran a school where boys and girls were educated together till age ten.   Her mother was illiterate, but committed to education for her daughter and sons.  Both parents constantly supported her quest for education.  She read whatever she wanted, watched tv from around the world, listened to her father's political discussions.  They encouraged her to become a public speaker.  They were incredibly courageous as the Taliban moved into the Swat Valley were they lived and terrorized the population.

Malala's survival was a miracle.  The bullet grazed her skull, penetrated her eye socket, severed the facial muscles and nerves then lodged in her shoulder.  It didn't hit her brain, but the bone fragments did.  The international outcry opened offers for medical assistance from all over the world and the president of Pakistan actually assisted by allowing her to be moved to Britain.

She's very aware that she lived for a reason and has a mission to fulfill. It was an inspirational story.



Ed and Kate
Two of the leads


Lifting the second floor into place



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