84 pages • 2 hours read
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
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Chapters 16-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: Three Girls, Three Bullets
Chapter 16 Summary: The Valley of Sorrows
Malala and her family head back home a week after the prime minister announces it is safe. However, many families “weren’t convinced it was safe to return” so the valley is empty (190). Malala and her father return to the school to survey the damage. Debris, anti-Taliban slogans, and bullet casings are scattered about. “I felt sorry that our precious school had become a battleground” (191).
The Taliban, it seems, is truly gone. “My father’s friend Ahmad Shah called it a ‘controlled peace, not a durable peace.’ But gradually people returned to the valley because Swat is beautiful and we cannot bear to be away from it for long” (193). Once their school is up and running, Malala’s class takes a trip. They participate in workshops and learn how to tell their stories.
Despite the time away from the valley, the teachers expect to be paid. Malala and her teacher Madam Maryam write to General Abbas, explaining the situation. “He was very kind and sent us 1,100,000 rupees so my father could pay everyone three months’ back pay” (197).
A monsoon descends upon the valley and the school is flooded. Malala recalls it taking several days before the water receded enough to go back.
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