We Are Displaced

During their stay in Shangla, Yousafzai and her family divided their time between her maternal and paternal uncles’ houses. She remembers being excited to go to school again, since she was able to attend her cousin Sumbul’s school. Yousafzai recalls that she felt particularly happy at being able to disobey Taliban rules in Shangla, though she did notice that there were very few girls at her cousin’s school, and they all seemed to be lacking in confidence. Her cousin and the other female students covered their faces in class and did not ask questions, making Yousafzai feel out of place and confused.

While she felt some comfort from staying with family, Yousafzai worried continuously about what would happen to her home and when she would be able to return. After six weeks apart, Yousafzai and her mother and siblings joined their father in Peshawar, where they continued to move between the homes of friends and family members. She remembers that she and her family were “IDPs” or Internally Displaced Persons and carried cards that entitled them to rations for food. Yousafzai recalls how disappointed she was that, in the stress and upheaval of moving homes, her family forgot her 12th birthday.