Last to Eat, Last to Learn Pashtana Durrani (Review By Lara Ferguson)

4 of 5 stars

Pashtana Durrani has a mission. She is striving to provide education to the girls and young women of Afghanistan. Raised in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan, was secretly educated by her parents who believed that the only way out of the camp was education. Her father, an Afghani tribal leader, established a community school for girls in their home and invited all to attend.

At sixteen, Pashtana was admitted to a preparatory program at Oxford University. This was to be her ticket out of the refugee camp, but she had other ideas. She chose another, much more difficult path, electing to go to Afghanistan, attend university there and work toward her dream of education for all girls. Once there, she founded the non-profit LEARN, a program dedicated to getting educational materials into the hands of girls in remote areas of Afghanistan.
This memoir is the fascinating story of her seemingly impossible journey to achieving her goal. Witness to war, hunger, and many other hardships, Pashtana defied all odds, including attempts on her life, to become an Amnesty International Global Youth Ambassador, a United Nations Youth Envoy, and a successful tribal leader. She never ceased speaking her mind and following her heart and continues to do so today.

Shared in her own voice, this book reminds the reader of the power of education and the possibilities when one person won’t give up. Every young woman should read this book and realize just how powerful she is.