The ‘other Malalas’
TWO FRIENDS ATTACKED WITH THE SCHOOLGIRL HAVE MADE NEW LIVES IN WALES
We have all heard of “the girl who was shot by the Taliban.” But the phrase — used as shorthand for Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prizewinner, youngest-ever UN Messenger of Peace and the most famous schoolgirl in the world — tells only part of the story of that fateful Tuesday in October 2012.
Two other teenagers were victims of the attack that injured Malala. They, too, were caught up in that shower of bullets. Kainat Riaz, then 15, and Shazia Ramzan, 14, were Malala’s fellow pupils at Khushal Public School. They were sitting together in a converted Toyota truck as they travelled home after a chemistry exam in Mingora, northwest Pakistan.
“The Taliban stopped us, two boys — or men,” says Shazia. “One was in the front and the other one came to the back. He said: ‘Who is Malala?’ We had our faces covered (with niqabs), but Malala didn’t.
“We were looking at him and then he shot Malala in the forehead. He shot me on my hand and shoulder, and Kainat’s shoulder as well. Then he started shooting randomly.”
Kainat recalls seeing Malala fall to the floor and hearing her classmates’ screams, before she fainted.
Kainat was taken by her family to the local hospital, while Shazia spent a month in a military hospital in the regional capital, Peshawar. Malala’s injuries were so complex that she was flown to the U.K. for life-saving treatment.
Meanwhile, Shazia and Kainat returned to recuperate at home in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, but were treated as pariahs. Neighbours told Kainat’s family to leave because she was seen as a Taliban target; bus drivers refused to take her to school.
Eight thousand kilometres away, Malala was the focus of increasing global attention. Tens of thousands signed a petition calling for her to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
She was also inundated with offers to continue her education. One came from the prestigious international boarding school, UWC Atlantic College, in South Wales. Malala replied that she was settled in Birmingham. But she had not forgotten her friends and asked if the invitation could be extended to them instead.
Shazia and Kainat were given full scholarships, while Gordon Brown, UN special envoy on global education and former British prime minister, helped with visas.
The girls arrived in 2013, leaving their families behind.
Atlantic College could not be further from their modest homes in rural Pakistan. Instead of lush green mountains, the girls are surrounded by sheep farms. Sitting in the cold principal’s office today, they describe their initial feelings of disorientation — and freedom.
“Back home, you have to go anywhere with your father, mother or brother, because you are a girl,” explains Shazia. The girls relished being able to visit the shops alone and learned to swim.
Now, both 19, any homesickness has faded, replaced by soul-searching about how to fit into two radically different worlds. Says Kainat: “If I’m wearing jeans and my friends (in Pakistan) see pictures online, they say: ‘You forgot your culture.’ ”
Her family, however, are adamant they did the right thing.
Though Malala was the trailblazer, the three are now united behind the same cause.
Kainat, once shy, is confident about her mission. “Before, my mind was closed,” she says. “I thought education just related to my family. But now I think about all girls. I want to stand up for them.”