Near us on our street there was a family with a girl my age called Safina and two boys similar in age to my brothers, Babar and Basit. We all played cricket on the street or rooftops together, but I knew as we got older the girls would be expected to stay inside. We’d be expected to cook and serve our brothers and fathers.
在我们家这条街上,不远处有户人家,他们有个女儿跟我同龄,名叫萨芬娜,他们还有两个儿子,也跟我的两个弟弟年纪相仿,分别是巴芭和巴赛特。我们常在街上或屋顶上一起打板球,但我知道等我们女孩子再长大一点,大人们就会要求我们待在家里了。通常,对女孩的期望是负责煮饭并服侍父亲和兄弟。男人们可以在城里自由活动,即便只是个五岁的小男孩也可以!
While boys and men could roam freely about town, my mother and I could not go out without a male relative to accompany us, even if it was a five-year-old boy! This was the tradition.
而我和母亲却必须要有男性亲戚的陪伴才可以出门!这就是传统。
I had decided very early I would not be like that. My father always said, ‘Malala will be free as a bird.’ I dreamed of going to the top of Mount Elum like Alexander the Great to touch Jupiter and even beyond the valley. But, as I watched my brothers running across the roof, flying their kites and skilfully flicking the strings back and forth to cut each other’s down, I wondered how free a daughter could ever be.
很早以前,我就下定决心,不要过那样的生活。父亲总是说:“马拉拉会像只小鸟一般自由。”我梦想能登上埃勒姆顶峰,像亚历山大大帝一样,伸手抚触木星,甚至离开河谷地区。但当我看着弟弟们在屋顶上跑来跑去、放着风筝,熟练地控制手中的线绳,企图击落对方的风筝时,我不禁怀疑,身为一个女儿,我究竟能获取多少自由。