Clancy Tucker's Blog: PAKISTAN

Showing posts with label PAKISTAN. Show all posts

12 October 2014 - MALALA YOUSAFZAI - Amazing Kid

MALALA YOUSAFZAI

- Amazing Kid -

G'day folks,

I have featured this wonderful girl before, but today is fairly special for her, and the kids she fights for. Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls' right to education, and Indian children's right activist Kailash Satyarthi, have won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. With the prize, Ms Yousafzai, 17, becomes the youngest Nobel Prize winner, eclipsing Australian-born British scientist Lawrence Bragg, who was 25 when he shared the Physics Prize with his father in 1915. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said the pair were awarded the prize for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people.

Background:

Ayesha Mir didn’t go to school on Tuesday, Nov. 27, the day after a security guard found a shrapnel-packed bomb under her family’s car. The 17-year-old Pakistani girl assumed, as did most people who learned about the bomb, that it was intended for her father, the television news presenter Hamid Mir, who often takes on the Taliban in his nightly news broadcasts.

Traumatized by the near miss, Ayesha spent most of the day curled up in a corner of her couch, unsure whom to be angrier with: the would-be assassins or her father for putting himself in danger. She desperately wanted someone to help her make sense of things.

At around 10:30 p.m., she got her wish. Ayesha’s father had just come home from work, and he handed her his BlackBerry. “She wants to speak to you,” he said. The voice on the phone was weak and cracked, but it still carried the confidence that Ayesha and millions of other Pakistanis had come to know through several high-profile speeches and TV appearances.

“This is Malala,” said the girl on the other end of the line. Malala Yousafzai, 15, was calling from the hospital in Birmingham, England, where under heavy guard she has been undergoing treatment since Oct. 16. “I understand that what happened was tragic, but you need to stay strong,” Malala told Ayesha. “You cannot give up.”

It was one of the few times Malala had called anyone in Pakistan since she was flown to England for specialized medical treatment after a Taliban assassin climbed onto her school bus, called out for her by name and shot her in the head on Oct. 9. Her brain is protected by a titanium plate that replaced a section of her skull removed to allow for swelling. But she spoke rapidly to the older girl in Urdu, encouraging her to stand up for her father even if doing so brought risks. As an outspoken champion of girls’ right to an education, Malala knew all about risk — and fear and consequences — when it comes to taking on the Taliban. “The way she spoke was so inspirational,” Ayesha says. “She made me realize that my father was fighting our enemies and that it was something I should be proud of, not afraid.” The next day Ayesha returned to school. And with that call, Malala began to return to what she seems born to do — passing her courage on to others.

In trying, and failing, to kill Malala, the Taliban appear to have made a crucial mistake. They wanted to silence her. Instead, they amplified her voice. Since October her message has been heard around the world, from cramped classrooms where girls scratch out lessons in the dirt to the halls of the U.N. and national governments and NGOs, where legions of activists argue ever more vehemently that the key to raising living standards throughout the developing world is the empowerment of women and girls. Malala was already a spokesperson; the Taliban made her a symbol, and a powerful one, since in the age of social media and crowdsourced activism, a parable as tragic and triumphant as hers can raise an army of disciples.

She has become perhaps the world’s most admired children’s-rights advocate, all the more powerful for being a child herself. Her primary cause — securing Pakistani girls’ access to education — has served to highlight broader concerns: the health and safety of the developing world’s children, women’s rights and the fight against extremism. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is now the U.N.’s special envoy for global education, declared Nov. 10 Malala Day in honor of her and the more than 50 million girls around the world who are not at school. Nearly half a million people have signed petitions on Change.org to nominate her for the Nobel Peace Prize. That is not how the Taliban intended things to turn out.

If Malala decides to continue her crusade, hers will be a platform backed with financial means and wired with well-connected allies. “She’d be great as both a fundraiser and a public speaker,” says former First Lady Laura Bush, who’s spent years campaigning for women’s rights in Taliban-controlled areas. Several funds and initiatives have been founded, including at least one that Malala and her father will directly influence once she has recovered. However, a return to Pakistan, where Malala would likely be most effective, would be fraught with danger. The Taliban have on several occasions sworn to target her again.

Long before she was an activist, Malala Yousafzai was a model student. By the time she was 21⁄2, she was sitting in class with 10-year-olds, according to a close family friend and teacher at the school founded by Malala’s father. The little girl with the huge hazel eyes didn’t say much, but “she could follow, and she never got bored,” says the teacher, who asked to remain anonymous for fear that she too might become a Taliban target. Malala loved the school, a rundown concrete-block building with a large rooftop terrace open to views of the snowcapped mountains that surround the Swat Valley. As she grew older, she was always first in her class. “She was an ordinary girl with extraordinary abilities,” says the teacher, “but she never had a feeling of being special.”

VIDEO OF MALALA'S SPEECH

TO THE UNITED NATIONS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rNhZu3ttIU

Clancy's comment: I have said this before but will say it again. I sincerely hope that she stays alive long enough to complete her work. Too often, we lose those who walk out of the mist to do great things. Yes, we lose them because some idiot doesn't like what they do.

Love ya work, Malala! Love ya work!

I'm ...

Think about this!

12 June 2014 - ASIM IFTIKHAR - Guest Cookbook Author

ASIM IFTIKHAR

- Guest Cookbook Author -

G'day folks,

Today I interview a young cookbook author from Pakistan - ASIM IFTIKHAR.

Asim is a Mechanical Engineer and an aspiring entrepreneur. His mother was born in India. Ever since her childhood, she loved cooking and she used to delight her family with surprising new dishes with a scintillating taste. Moving to Pakistan to marry Asim's father, she soon learnt Pakistani cuisine and created a wonderful blend of both cuisines. Asim's mother's cooking has a strong flavor and blend of both cuisines which makes her recipes quite unique.

Welcome, Asim ...

WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?

As an entrepreneur, you don’t know, you can be anything anytime. I was thinking about ideas, while I was lying on my bed and an idea struck in my mind, as my mother is a great cook and a number of non-natives love Indian and Pakistani food, why not preparing Indian and Pakistani cookbook for them. Then I turned the internet on and started searching out for the Pakistani and Indian cook guides, which were meant to be written for non-natives and newbies (can’t cook) but I found nothing. So, I thought of writing my book for all of the non-natives, who have a love for this ethnic food, no matter how worse they are with cooking. So, I started building this guide and this is how I became writer.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

Well, as I am not a professional writer, so my opinion might differ from other professionals. As a writer, I feel the most important thing is the solution to problems. If you make the solution too simple for the customers then this is what I like about writing and this is how your book is worthy. Like in my guide, as I was a newbie in cooking too. I took the help from my mom and started practicing to make sure if it really works or not and then I put myself on newbie category reading my book (assuming it to be written from some other Author) and now do I understand this? This is what I enjoyed most.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?

The hardest thing about being a writer is proofreading, I hate proofreading over and over again.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?

As I have got in love with making things simple for the customers. So, I am thinking of writing on how to publish your book on Kindle and Createspace, but before that I would ask the people about my kindle formatting, if they endorse it then I will write another guide.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN WRITING?

Assuming yourself a newbie, when you are not and then understanding your own written script to help your newbie fellows.

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE ‘SUCCESS’ AS A WRITER.

Success as a Writer is “Understanding your readers psyche”. For example my book is a guide, if it helps newbies and non-natives then this is a success of my book and ultimately my success as a writer of this book. In the same way, If a book is meant for the entertainment and if it entertains the readers then this is a success.

WHAT SHOULD READERS WALK AWAY FROM YOUR BOOKS KNOWING? HOW SHOULD THEY FEEL?

After reading my book of only 2.99$, every newbie should learn how to cook Indian and Pakistani food. Since, I know the feeling, when you go to restraunt and spend more than 40$ and coming out with disappointment, because you have never tried that dish in the past. For those put a bit of money in this and create another food court in their home. Then if you don’t want to cook food at your home, you will atleast be in a position (in restraunt) of knowing that which ingredients are in that dish, so I must not go for this.