“I wanted to be a singer. I loved music. I practiced all the...

“I wanted to be a singer. I loved music. I practiced all the time and worked on writing songs for myself. I loved sad songs especially. But the community put so much pressure on my mother. My father passed away when I was twelve. And everyone kept telling my mother that a girl could not be something like a singer without her father’s permission. My father wouldn’t have minded. He was always so supportive of me. But my mom was so worried about what people would think. She begged me to stop. She grew so nervous that I finally told her, ‘It’s OK, Mom. I’ll stop.’ Now I just listen to music. It’s too sad for me to sing anymore.”

(Hunza Valley, Pakistan)