We Are Displaced

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Education as a Human Right in We Are Displaced”

In this activity, students reflect on textual references to the idea that education is a human right for all regardless of gender. They will then write a portion of a story from the point of view of a fictional male character of a similar age as Yousafzai and the other refugee authors.

Each story included in We Are Displaced underscores the strong influence of the value of education. An education denied means a future denied, and the authors collectively make a case for the human right to education for all.

• Consider how each author’s story reflects the value of education and how it influences the future of each of the female characters.
• Once you have reflected on these details, choose one narrative to model in a brief retelling from the perspective of a male refugee. Does the male perspective include a similar belief that an education determines one’s future? What situations does this character experience or observe, and what are his thoughts and actions?

Share your account aloud or via a peer response circle as time allows. Consider the ways that other students include the role of education in the lives of both male and female refugees.

Teaching Suggestion: The purpose of this activity is to challenge students to engage with the ways in which gender can influence access to education and a comfortable future life in many parts of the world, including the countries from which the authors of the stories in We Are Displaced come from. Writing from the point of view of a fictional male character invites students to consider a new perspective on the stories told within the narrative. Outside resources might help to provide context about the challenges boys in war-torn countries face. Students might benefit from support toward their understanding of gender roles by being given extra time to study information about women and gender roles in the Middle East before carrying out this activity.

Paired Text Extension: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

As you write your refugee story told from a male perspective, think about how values we learn as younger children are carried with us through our older years. What does I Am Malala show us about the author’s earlier life and experiences with her family? How does her father, in particular, cultivate her love of learning and of education? Reflect on the ways earlier experiences with family and school impact the values we hold as we grow older.

How might the information about Malala’s early life and education influence your understanding of her experiences at Zaatari and afterward as told in We Are Displaced?

Teaching Suggestion: Sharing the premise or excerpts from this earlier book written by Malala Yousafzai will challenge students to more deeply understand how Malala was able to carry the courage and activism through her later life at the refugee camp and beyond. An understanding of the timeframe of this text may help students to connect the early and later events in the life of Malala Yousafzai in order to more fully grasp her passionate commitment to education as a human right.