12 Jun 2013
Two Holroyd girls inspire at the Sydney Writers Festival 2013
Holroyd High school was proudly represented by two senior students at the Sydney Writers Festival last weekend. Elaf Khaleel and Maheen Bhutta were invited to be guest speakers at a special event and both girls had the audience captivated with their moving and inspirational words. Elaf spoke about the importance of motivation and Maheen explored importance of education and the issues that face young women accross the world.
Below is Maheens speech that shows an example of the strong, independent and empowered young thinkers that we hope to help foster here at Holroyd High School:
"Somewhere over the rainbow way up high, there's a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true.
There's a place, I have heard of, a place of injustices, in Pakistan the capital of Swat valley. A little piece of heaven, compared to Switzerland by Queen Elizabeth. This comparison is unfair in my opinion. Firstly, Swat is not famous for chocolate, or holding large sums of moneys of all the corrupt regimes of the world in their Banks. Swat is also not a neutral country like Switzerland which held everyone's wallets in the first and second world wars of Europe while the rest of the world was engulfed in bloodletting of biblical proportions.
Swat is or was a tourist town, with incredible natural beauty, with flowing rivers, but Swat recently has been a hot bed of Pakistani Taliban atrocities. The Taliban have terrorised that area by bombing and banning girl's schools.
"I think of it often and imagine the scene clearly, even if they come to kill me, I will tell them what they are trying to do is wrong, that education is our basic right."
These are the utterances of a 15 year old girl Malala, shot Point Blank in the head while she was in her school bus. Malala Yousafzia is from Mangora. The Taliban have regularly threatened Malala's family to stop raising the issue in the media about education and schools for girls.
Her crime is only that she wishes to be allowed to go to school. Like any young person she desires to be with her friends and be a teenager. But perhaps it was too much for ultra-orthodox Muslim Taliban.
There is quote from Muhammad PBHM, which he explains one must go to as far as china to get self-educated. Muhammad knew the value of the education, because he was completely illiterate. But girls like Malala have been refused education outside their homes.
Education is a human right that an eleven year old demanded. Not an Ipad or new clothes, she said again, "I don't mind if have to sit on the floor at school. All I want is education. And I'm afraid of no one." Brave words from a little girl who saw people being murdered in the name of religion.
She may not have understood entirely what was going on, but she knew something was awfully wrong, and that she was robbed of her basic right, the right to education.
Malala Yousafzia is a Pakistani girl who was shot down by Pakistani Taliban's as she was going to school. Imagine the terror she must have felt when a coward pointed a gun at her head and shot her point blank. She lost part of her skull which needed to be reconstructed.
After her reconstructive surgery in England, she had this to say. "I am getting better day by day, I can see you, and I can see everybody." But do we see her?
Women have braved these acts of cowardice all through ages; these injustices are not new to women. With our resilience we will win the right to education in countries that don't have a strong education system, like we won the right to vote in Europe and Australia.
Let's not fool ourselves ladies and gentlemen. These acts of violence are not confined to some god forsaken place in Pakistan. Before we pass judgement let's just look at what happened not long ago in western world.
Millions of women have been burnt on stakes for raising their voices, or being guilty of the ‘horrendous' crime of reading or writing. It was not long ago that Europe was engulfed in something pretty similar to what we saw occur in the Swat valley.
The Western world has been lucky in lot of respects. Industrialisation of Europe created lots of opportunities for women, in term of jobs and education. Also world wars one and two helped create jobs for women simply because most of the men were sent out to war. Most of them never returned. Slowly women got opportunities to educate themselves; and they had more opportunities to voice their opinions in political arena's. So in a strange way economic necessity was the driving force in liberating women in Europe.
Pakistan and particularly the area of Swat has not been benefited from wars and industrial revolution. It's still largely a rural area. Education, especially reading or writing, is way down in the ‘things to do' list. But diligent parents know the power of education for little girls and are keen to educate their children.
But fighting the Taliban with guns and bombs is not working; it's only making them stronger. I believe that we should pay the piper and negotiate a power sharing solution.
I feel so strongly towards Malala's story, as I am also of Pakistani background, but being born and raised in Australia, I count myself quite blessed to have the freedom to voice my opinions without fear, and to have the right to be educated, but by chance if I had been born in Pakistan, you could imagine how different it would have been. But my question to you is... why? Why must it be that way? To have education is to have power, and education is the fundamental prerequisite for political development, democracy and social justice. If you ask me it is nothing more than a basic human right. And in many countries this isn't being enforced strongly enough.
Malala publicly campaigned for something that was getting other activists killed. She kept speaking out even after being threatened by the Taliban. She continues to fight even after being shot at point-blank-range by terrorists.
Malala knew her cause was more important than her personal comfort and safety. She was willing to risk her life so that other girls would receive an education. Her example reminds us that the "persecution" we face (e.g. teasing, shunning, etc.) is kid-stuff compared to real persecution. We need to swallow our fears and stand up for what's right.
Malala didn't have to campaign so publicly for education. She could have quietly pursued her own studies and avoided drawing attention to herself. Instead she chose to risk her own education (and life) in order to speak up for those who would not or could not speak up for themselves. Are you willing to risk everything for your cause? Or do you prefer to be safe?
There's nothing that bothers me more than the idea that I could've been raised in Pakistan and if I were to speak out about this, I would endure the same punishment as Malala, that's the word, punishment; she was punished for standing up for a cause that she felt strongly enough to speak up about it. And I ask you whether education in third world countries is becoming a trauma, or a dream? It's my dream but the reality is, its a trauma for millions of young children just like myself, and why must it be that way? "Doubt and questioning is the key to knowledge", that's a Persian proverb but it seems as if I keep questioning these ideas, and still I can't find the answers.
No matter what, education is a basic human right, and should be distributed to all children regardless of the place of birth or situation, these children are my age, that could've been me, and imagine if it were you too. Education shouldn't seem a trauma, but rather a dream that should be transformed into a reality. And that is my wish."
Maheen Bhutta- Year 11
2013
Congratulations again to both girls- we are all very proud of your efforts!