I Am Malala,The girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban.   By Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

This is the second book about strong, empowering women that I have read from my list shared at the Oswego, NY Fall Seminar.

This book, with it’s mesmerizing portrait of Malala on the cover, is the story of a family that lived in the Swat Valley in Pakistan:  North of Pakistan, sandwiched in by Afghanistan on the NW, Iran on the SW, Tajikistan and China on the N. and India on the SE.  This is an area of the world that I know very little about, hence my desire to read her story.

Throughout the book, even with all the difficult adversities that she and her family suffered, Malala lovingly and longingly talks about her homeland with exquisite detail as she describes growing up in that part of the world.  She was born in a country that did not embrace daughters, as sons were the ultimate “prize” for families.  Malala’s father however, respected and loved her unconditionally and asked friends to throw dried fruits, sweets and coins into her cradle when she was born (something that they traditionally only do for boys.)  Her father looked into her eyes after she was born and said, he “fell in love.”

She grew up very close to her father and he encouraged her love of free speech, education and peace.  Her intense love of her valley, Swat, is well described in several pages of her book.  If you don’t know too much about this region of the world, Malala describes it in vivid detail.

The book includes pictures, a glossary of unfamiliar words, maps as well as important events in Pakistan and Swat history.  After reading this book, I have a deeper appreciation for what some women and girls must endure and I know little about.  Very enlightening! 

Malala is an activist and fighter for girls around the world who are being denied the right to go to school. In 2013, Malala addressed the UN in New York on her 16^thbirthday and called for free education for all children.

Find Me Unafraid; Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum

In an effort to continue the enthusiasm for the Women’s Empowerment books that were shared at the Fall Seminar, I read the book, Find Me Unafraid; Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum, by Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner.

“A modern love story, in which the lives of two young people from opposite sides of the globe get tangled in the course of their work with marginalized children:  Hopelessness displaced by hope, neglect replaced by love.”

This is a biography that takes place mainly in Kibera, an African slum in Kenya.  They lack a sewage system, roads, running water and no access to things like health care and education.  It is a poverty that is so difficult to even imagine.  At 10, Kennedy (named after John F. Kennedy) was alone on the streets. His struggles to just survive are incomprehensible.  He somehow clings to a couple of books that he was given; one was a book of Martin Luther King’s speeches and Nelson Mandel’s Long Walk to Freedom. When things become unbearable or hopeless to Kennedy he returns to these books and to the hope that they give him. Even in his desperation, he has a special aspiration to help young girls and women in general.  He has lived with the despair of seeing the mistreatment of females in his village.

Through his encounter with Jessica, from Wesleyan University, as well as his determination and hopefulness he manages to do some amazing things in his village.  He began with a 20-cent soccer ball and a dogged determination and he organizes his community and opens what he calls “Shining Hope for Communities”.

Kennedy, also known in his community as “Mayor” is especially sensitive to the plight of young girls and women…and for these reasons, I think it is an especially powerful book on the empowerment of women in this part of the world and beyond.

Continue to be motivated and think about female empowerment, you may wish to read this book.   HAPPY READING! 

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