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Different But Equal
Zara, a 14-year-old girl of identical looks with Ahmed, her twin brother,
often daydreamed to be a doctor. Ahmed was the one who was engaged to
pursue his studies, while Zara faced quite a different reality. Her father
thought that school was only for boys and the girls had to help at home
making food and doing dishes.
Their school had numerous issues like overcrowded classrooms, most of the
desks were broken, and a lack of books. Some young girls had already quit
school, and were forced to marry at an early age. In this hard time of
misery, Miss Amina a new teacher became a ray of hope for Zara.
One day, Ahmed got sick, and skipped school. This was the moment when
Zara saw her chance to act. She changed her clothes and went to school.
She was happy but suddenly came her father. He got mad, pulled Zara back
home and started to scold her as if she had done a crime.
As a result of that, Zara thought that nothing was ever going to change
knowing that she had lost it all. But Ahmed, however, after seeing how
much courage Zara had, decided and announced that he would not go to
school if Zara was not allowed. Their mother who finally noticed that the
connection between the twins spoke up, she also stated that girls could be
the change-makers, because just like Zara she was also never allowed to
study. Days later when Zara was working at home a bell ringed, Miss
Amina who had noticed the inequality, talked to Zara’s parents and favored
her, slowly the father’s behavior was changing and on Zara’s birthday he
finally surprised her by allowing her to go to school. Years later Zara and
Ahmed came back as doctors and made a school for children like them.
The moral is beautifully depicted in a poem:
