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sallymentzer25's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
#LastToEatLastToLearn is the inspirational story of Pashtana Durrani, whose passion for educating girls in remote areas of Afghanistan inspired her to create an NGO called LEARN. An excellent student, Pashtana was accepted into a preparatory program at the University of Oxford, but instead choose to live in Afghanistan and pursue her dream. Although Pashtana grew up in a Pakistani refugee camp, education was always top priority for her parents. Her father, a tribal leader, was an educated and wise man, who believed in education for girls. Her family’s resources and support were crucial in allowing Pashtana to follow her vision. Pashtana’s persistence paid off. Her organization provides digital learning tools for girls who otherwise would have no opportunity to attend school.
Thank you to Goodreads and Citadel Press, Kensington Publishing Corp. for a copy of this book.
rebekah95's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.0
kapulaga's review
5.0
Well written about how Pashtana wants to educate and provide women in Afghanistan which always concluded as people who "Last to Eat, Last to Learn". Many sacrifices she made and gone through. I think one of them that brought me into liking this book is the way she wrote her emotions so 'raw'. Also, as a person living in a third world country, I can somehow relate to the situation, although the situation I experienced is nothing compared to what Pashtana's has had experienced.
amandas_bookshelf's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Sexism, and Classism
arya_deepak's review
5.0
In the war-ravaged Afghanistan where women, under the 'new improved ' Taliban rule, stripped of all human rights – their work, visibility, opportunity for education, voice, healthcare, and mobility live in the most inhuman conditions, Pashtana Durrani, daughter of a well respected Afghan tribal chief and Amnesty International Global Youth Ambassador, fights against all odds to help the illiterate girls.
Last to Eat, Last to Learn - My Life in Afghanistan Fighting to Educate Women is an upcoming book in which Pashtana Durrani, a girls' education activist and the Founder and Executive Director of LEARN Afghan (an NGO delivering much-needed literacy and education to Afghan girls via covert community schools, online medium, etc.) portrays her struggles and hardships she faced while setting -up her dream project to educate girls in Afghanistan, her homeland.I received an advance online copy via NetGalley (expected publication time February 2024).
This read is Touching. It is intense, emotional, eye-opening and makes one think about one's blessings in life. The book starts with the childhood of the author in Pakistan as an Afghan tribal refugee. The struggles she faced as an outsider, of being a girl in a pro-male community, of being a tribal, etc., make us deeply emotional. From an early age, she witnessed the cruel and underprivileged condition of women especially, those related to education, and all of these paved the way leading to the formation of her dream NGO. As the daughter of an educated great tribal leader who understood the importance and power of education, one could say she was privileged. Pashtana exploited her privilege to help those underprivileged girls around her no matter what. In a community where girls were considered lower than animals, Pashtana's father ran a school within his home for girls and she took this 'family business' (in the book, she says, "Educating girls was our family business" which melted my heart to no ends) to a whole another level becoming a name of hope for hundreds and thousands of hapless Afghan girls.
The book starts with one of the most touching, intense, and hard decisions Pashtana took in her life: the decision not to go to the preparatory program of Oxford, one of the golden tickets out of the unpredictable life her community was leading in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She felt that she needed to be in the community, in the presence of those poor girls to be able to do something helpful. All of us can agree that not many people will be able to make such a momentous decision and turn their lives upside down. It is this fact, this courage to fight headlong, that made me a fan of this prodigious young woman.
Her never-ending tries to forge a way forward, the ingenious idea of the tablets in education, bravery even in the face of immediate death, and the profound love and support of her family aiding and abetting her in each step towards achieving her dream for her homeland; all of these makes us proud that love for fellow-beings is still a facade of humanity.
The book covers the atmosphere in Afghanistan between the period of 2016- 2021 when once again Afghanistan fell under Taliban rule. The conditions of tribal population in Afghanistan, the anti-tribal attitude of the pre-Taliban government, the government's western-oriented approaches in education that were not helping the population, neglect of rural areas, how the government is looting money in the name of non-existent education, and many such crucial issues are described in detail in this small but matter-of-fact book.
Written in a simple style, in heartfelt language, this profoundly inspiring autobiography will not disappoint the reader at all.
Last but not least, the title of the book. The words ‘Last to Eat, Last to Learn’ are the exact condition of women, not only in Afghanistan but in many such countries where fundamentalist governments rule. The title itself is enough to make one sit and think hard about the condition of women in our ‘ultra-modern liberal’ world.
This will surely be an eye-opener for those who take education for granted. Without a doubt, I will refer this to all those teachers and students out there. I will not be surprised if her book becomes a part of a school curriculum somewhere in the future.
Thank you Kensington Books, Citadel, and NetGalley for an advance copy of this wonderful autobiography.
Last to Eat, Last to Learn - My Life in Afghanistan Fighting to Educate Women is an upcoming book in which Pashtana Durrani, a girls' education activist and the Founder and Executive Director of LEARN Afghan (an NGO delivering much-needed literacy and education to Afghan girls via covert community schools, online medium, etc.) portrays her struggles and hardships she faced while setting -up her dream project to educate girls in Afghanistan, her homeland.I received an advance online copy via NetGalley (expected publication time February 2024).
This read is Touching. It is intense, emotional, eye-opening and makes one think about one's blessings in life. The book starts with the childhood of the author in Pakistan as an Afghan tribal refugee. The struggles she faced as an outsider, of being a girl in a pro-male community, of being a tribal, etc., make us deeply emotional. From an early age, she witnessed the cruel and underprivileged condition of women especially, those related to education, and all of these paved the way leading to the formation of her dream NGO. As the daughter of an educated great tribal leader who understood the importance and power of education, one could say she was privileged. Pashtana exploited her privilege to help those underprivileged girls around her no matter what. In a community where girls were considered lower than animals, Pashtana's father ran a school within his home for girls and she took this 'family business' (in the book, she says, "Educating girls was our family business" which melted my heart to no ends) to a whole another level becoming a name of hope for hundreds and thousands of hapless Afghan girls.
The book starts with one of the most touching, intense, and hard decisions Pashtana took in her life: the decision not to go to the preparatory program of Oxford, one of the golden tickets out of the unpredictable life her community was leading in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She felt that she needed to be in the community, in the presence of those poor girls to be able to do something helpful. All of us can agree that not many people will be able to make such a momentous decision and turn their lives upside down. It is this fact, this courage to fight headlong, that made me a fan of this prodigious young woman.
Her never-ending tries to forge a way forward, the ingenious idea of the tablets in education, bravery even in the face of immediate death, and the profound love and support of her family aiding and abetting her in each step towards achieving her dream for her homeland; all of these makes us proud that love for fellow-beings is still a facade of humanity.
The book covers the atmosphere in Afghanistan between the period of 2016- 2021 when once again Afghanistan fell under Taliban rule. The conditions of tribal population in Afghanistan, the anti-tribal attitude of the pre-Taliban government, the government's western-oriented approaches in education that were not helping the population, neglect of rural areas, how the government is looting money in the name of non-existent education, and many such crucial issues are described in detail in this small but matter-of-fact book.
Written in a simple style, in heartfelt language, this profoundly inspiring autobiography will not disappoint the reader at all.
Last but not least, the title of the book. The words ‘Last to Eat, Last to Learn’ are the exact condition of women, not only in Afghanistan but in many such countries where fundamentalist governments rule. The title itself is enough to make one sit and think hard about the condition of women in our ‘ultra-modern liberal’ world.
This will surely be an eye-opener for those who take education for granted. Without a doubt, I will refer this to all those teachers and students out there. I will not be surprised if her book becomes a part of a school curriculum somewhere in the future.
Thank you Kensington Books, Citadel, and NetGalley for an advance copy of this wonderful autobiography.