Summer Book Club Continues on Wednesday, July 30

“We liked to be known as the clever girls. When we decorated our hands with henna for holidays and weddings, we drew calculus and chemical formulae instead of flowers and butterflies.” – Malala Yousafzai

Join us as we discuss Malala’s childhood, her early influences and school experiences against the backdrop of the growing presence of the Taliban in Swat Valley, Pakistan.  Please read through parts I and II of the book (chapters 1-15). Click here to preview and purchase the book on Amazon.com.

When: Wednesday, July 30, 7 p.m.

Where: Trinity Baptist Church, 250 East 61st Street, Classroom B/C

RSVP at nycwov@gmail.com.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Excerpt from I Am Malala:

The school was not far from my home and I used to walk, but since the start of the last year I had been going with other girls by bus…. I had started taking the bus because my mother was scared of me walking on my own. We had been getting threats all year. Somewhere in the newspapers, and some were notes or messages passed on by people…. I was more concerned the Taliban would target my father, as he was always speaking out against them. His close friend and fellow campaigner Zahid Khan had been shot in the face in August on his way to prayers and I knew everyone was telling my father, “Take care, you’ll be next.”

Our street could not be reached by car, so coming home I would get off the bus on the road below by the stream and go through an iron gate and up a flight of steps…. I’d imagine that a terrorist might jump out and shoot me on those steps. I wondered what I would do.  Maybe I’d take off my shoes and hit him. But then I’d think that if I did that, there would be no difference between me and a terrorist. It would be better to plead, “OK, shoot me, but first listen to me. What you are doing is wrong. I’m not against you personally. I just want every girl to go to school.”

I wasn’t scared, but I had started making sure the gate was locked at night and asking God what happens when you die. I told my best friend, Moniba, everything…. Moniba always knew if something was wrong. “Don’t worry,” I told her. “The Taliban have never come for a small girl.”

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Go deeper into Malala’s story by watching her father Ziauddin Yousafzai’s inspiring TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4mmeN8gv9o