Read Yes
Length 224
Quick Review As a little girl, her father wanted her to be a doctor, but she grew up to heal what doctor’s cannot: a healer of souls. A tragedy that began in love lead Khalida Brohi down a road that would help her change her family, change her country, change the world, and bring her love.
I Should Have Honor is Khalida Brohi’s memoir. Through her story, she also tells the story of her people. Before the age of 30, she has already accomplished so much good in her community and the world at large. She is the creator of the Sughar Foundation. With her husband, they founded the Chai Spot. Her life, from a very young age, has been dedicated to lifting women up and bringing an end to honor killings. Through her work, she has faced adversity, hostility, threats, and survived a bombing. Her resiliency allowed her to look passed these people’s actions, which stemmed from fear and ignorance, to continue her work helping women across Pakistan and the world.
Brohi grew up in tribal Pakistan. Her father had been lucky to have an education and believed his daughters should have one too. This was not common; it was hardly condoned. The combination of a progressive father, an education, a strong will, and a caring heart launched her on a mission to end honor killings in Pakistan and everywhere else. Her cousin was murdered in the name of honor at a very young age because she fell in love with someone she had not been betrothed to. This revelation rocked Brohi’s world setting her on the trajectory that led to her activism and social entrepreneurism.
This book came into my life as I renamed my blog. In my teen years, my life was irreversibly changed by a man taking what he thought he deserved. Brohi fights against honor killings in Pakistan. I have been speaking out against sexual and domestic violence in the United States for several years now. I don’t have the stage she does, but I want to start using my platform to advocate for women in my country struggling against a different kind of adversity. I found a kindred spirit in Khalida Brohi and I Should Have Honor.
Pakistan is drastically different than the United States and the Western world in many ways. I have had an interest in Southwestern Asia for several years now, so many things were not new to me. For those that have not read extensively about the region, Brohi does an incredible job providing background information on the politics, culture, religion, history, and even the clothes to help the reader understand and empathize with her people.
On of the things I admire so much about I Should Have Honor is her honesty in her early faults. In the beginning, she believed happiness and freedom looked a certain way for women. Through meeting and talking with and being challenged by women she was close to, she learned to accept women’s choices, and there is no one path to happiness or even equality. Change can be made through many routes. When she first began her advocacy journey, Brohi didn’t realize the need to change women’s minds about traditional practices as much if not more than she needed to change the men’s.
I Should Have Honor is not a very long book. The chapters are short, which makes it perfect for anyone who wants to read it, but can’t sit down for long sittings. There are so many personal touches and stories; it’s not a book you’ll want to speed read. I took my time with this one. Enjoying every word because this book, Khalida Brohi’s origin story, matters. It will continue to matter for many, many years to come.
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Memorable Quotes
“Two children, two stories, were becoming one.”
“I slowly learned that “honor” killings – a custom not ordained by religion, caste, or tradition but done solely to restore men’s egos – weren’t just my tribe’s issue but took place all across Pakistan and all over the world.”
“They couldn’t see the wrongs in the cultural restrictions that I was trying to describe, or the physical and emotional harm some traditional inflicted on women.”
“Women’s mind-sets were also part of the problem.”
Title: I Should Have Honor; A Memoir of Hope and Pride in Pakistan
Author: Khalida Brohi
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780399588013