In her blue dress, Samira looks very pretty. Unlike most of her classmates from the teachers college, she does not teach in a village. She passed the school exam, but failed the government test, which opens the way to teaching in a state school, and therefore, was not given a post in a government school. While preparing for the test this year, Samira sought and found a job in a private school in the capital city. Her first year as a teacher was a rewarding experience, she explains. She had to teach the first graders; some of the children in her classroom were reading and writing for the first time. She remembers the first days, when she had to sit with the children, hold their hands to help them draw vowels and consonants, repeat words to them until they picked up the sounds. At that time, she was wondering whether she would actually succeed in making progress with the children. A few months later, she noticed the change in the little faces concentrating on their slates or at the blackboard spelling out words loudly, writing words, proudly and enthusiastically lifting their slates to show what they were able to do. Though her first school year was a good one, she did not accept her failure to pass the government test, blaming it on the interruption of her formal education. She is sometimes downhearted when remembering the time wasted in a marriage that her father forced her into, when she was 17. To her, the battle which might be rightly called “Samira’s sole battle for life” has just been partly won. She won’t be fully satisfied until she completes her education. During the day she teaches and in the evenings she goes to school herself. Her goal is to get at least a bachelor’s degree. She might be interested in marriage one day she said, but for the time being it is not a priority. This is now well understood in her family where Samira’s new status has turned the feelings of hatred that her father once held for her into pride and love. While seeking to fulfil her ambitions, she has one wish which is very dear to her: “A long cooperation with Plan so that it becomes proud of what it has made of her”.
