gives you thought process and thinking and it invites you to think about your future or yourself . They want you to be just illiterate and act on whatever they tell you to do . Girls have refused to do that now .”
Farah ’ s upbringing is such a stark contrast to what we are speaking about . It almost begs the question of where she grew up . I wonder why she was so very fortunate to have had a family at that time who valued education and even pushed her to go to University to get her Master ’ s degree . She had to promise her dad that she would be educated as you remember from the earlier part of the interview . I ask her what the difference between her family and the families that don ’ t have that same educational drive are ?
“ My parents gave me education and values at the same time . They trusted me with those values . They were confident that whatever values they had given me were enough to let me fly . You have to be honest with your children especially with your girls . They are human beings . You have to let them go and have their own life with those values . You have to give them values in a way that they understand them . You mustn ’ t force those values on them .”
Farah went on to say that the Islam we see in the media is not the true Islam . She is very adamant that Islam gives a lot of freedom to women with very few limitations . Not only that , but she maintains that the Koran says men and women are equals . “ Islam has never restricted women from becoming educated or doing whatever she wants with her life . Those limitations are made up and it is nowhere in the Koran at all . Before there were illiterate people there , so naturally whatever everybody says they would follow that . Because more and more people in Pakistan are educated , now they understand . Change for the good is happening now in Pakistan . They are adopting more and more of everything which can take them up and let them fly which is very good . Why not ?! Otherwise you will be like a country from 200 years ago ! How can you live ? You have to go ahead and live your life . If you have a balanced life then everything will be good - education , religion , culture , values - Balance is the key !”
Farah says that girls truly need to be educated considering the fact that they have to raise children and take care of the home . Having an education is so valuable because it also helps women handle so many of life ’ s curve balls . She says that the educated women she knows seem to do everything better , for example , they have good time management skills , they know how to leave the small stuff alone when they are facing big challenges , and they handle problems well and can lead better . Education gives women the strength and confidence they need to navigate life better because they are less fearful and know that they CAN do anything they need to without having to depend on anybody .
I sense that Farah like so many other working moms has valued her education as life has no doubt brought its challenges to her like it does for us all . “ As a working mom of three daughters how do you do it all ? What are you telling your daughters to encourage them and embolden them to be successful in this world ?”
Farah responds by telling me that it is a very emotional subject for her because from the very beginning she knew that she would have three daughters and sure enough she did . “ I used to think that I would let them think their own way . I would give them the only good thing I could which is to let them have their own thought process . I would let them be whoever they wanted to be . I won ’ t take away their personality or their own self away . I won ’ t let anybody do that , so I got them a very good education .” I asked what the girls were doing now and she proudly responds that her oldest daughter is doing fashion design , her middle is studying English Literature and the youngest is very interested in art , music and theatre .
Farah tells me that when she first moved to Houston she had to work and like so many moms she had to put her youngest daughter who was two at that time with a babysitter . This is a very difficult thing for most moms to do . “ I wrote the poem Working Mother which is very famous and people cry when they hear that . At the same time I wrote another poem about her which is a very naughty one about what she does in the house . There are two poems I wrote about my youngest one .”
Farah reiterates that she has made it her mission to create an environment for her daughters to be able to have their own thoughts . She relays an amazing story to me about her older two daughters which gave her great pride and confidence in their ability to navigate whatever comes their way . When they were only 11 and 14 , they flew back to the US from Pakistan alone . Upon arriving at Heathrow the crew realized that there was a technical malfunction and it grounded the flight overnight . Farah was friends with the crew members who phoned her to let her know that they had to spend the night . She was worried
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