I was a very, very naughty child in my growing years. But I was also a leader at school – very sure of what I wanted to do. You see, I had plans of becoming a lawyer. I was thirteen when my first article on Women’s Rights appeared in a very famous newspaper in Pakistan, called Jung. I was always a dreamer and wanted to fly real high. My lifestyle, though, was a different one – though I had everything everyone else did, I always wanted to explore everything that was different.

My mother, like every mother in my country, used to tell me that one day, I would get married. This was what I was brought up on. I remember having always thought to myself, “No! God has not sent me in this world only to get married!” I was sure I had to do much more in life. My heart always told me that it wasn’t so.

As a child, I was very sensitive. In the course of my growing years, one incident changed my life forever – I left my school when I was in Grade Seven. What’s different about that? I decided never go back to that school again. I was so humiliated by what happened. One day while at school, I delivered a speech to my class, acting like a teacher. I was standing on the teacher’s chair. When our teacher came into class, she lost her temper andstarted beating me for my little tirade, in front of my classmates. She abused me and all the other girls made fun of me. I was just crying and crying, I was hurt mentally and psychologically. This was not the right way to teach a child who was just being a child.

In my state of mind then, I just surprised them all by leaving school then and there – and all at once, my life changed. All my dreams were over. While my parents tried to force me to join other schools, I stayed staunch and simply did not give in. But I never stopped studying. I started my own studies in the comfort of my home, privately. I taught myself – I never took any tuitions. Along with this, I decided to teach other girls – but with respect, love and care that I was not given in my school. I volunteered to have girls over – I started making home visits in my village. I made pamphlets to distribute among people. I told everyone that it will be free education. I walked even further, and went to tell people about my school in the nearby villages to convince them to send their girls. I told them that I would teach them English for free. I started visiting people with my mother on every Sunday, but no one was ready at first.

It was funny for the people around me – no one trusted me and no one was ready to join my school because I was just 13 years old. But I kept going simply because I did not want any child to experience what had happened to me. I decided that I would never use a stick in my school, and that I would make education interesting for the children.