Geez Nuts

What is Chapter 2 about?

Father has trouble with words. He would repeat the same syllable over and over again. He said it felt like a wall came down in his throat. M's, p's and k's were the hardest letters to say (He loved poetry which meant the stutter was very difficult for him.. On each side of the family he had an uncle with the same trouble. His father made it worse. He’d roar at Malala’s father when got muddled up in the middle of a sentence).

Malala’s grandfather's name was Rahul Amin, which means 'honest spirit' and is the holy name of the Angel Gabriel. He was very proud of his name.

Malala’s grandmother was so worried about her son's stutter that she took him to see a holy man. Her nephew Fazli Hakim had to carry Malala’s father on his shoulders. The holy man was named Lewano Pir, Saint of the Mad, because he was said to be able to calm lunatics.

When Malala’s father was thirteen he told his father he was entering a public speaking competition. (Malala’s grandfather was famous for his speeches. He taught theology in the government high school in the village of Shahpur).

He was an imam at the local mosque. (An Imam is the officiating priest of a mosque. Mosque meaning a Muslim temple or place of public worship).

His advice at Friday prayers were so popular that people would travel down from the mountains by donkey or on foot to hear him.

Malala’s father had a fairly large family. He had one much older brother, Saeed Ramzan who Malala calls Uncle Khan dada, and five sisters. As in most families, the girls stayed at home while the boys went to school.

Malala’s grandfather had studied in India, where he had seen great speakers and leaders including Mohammad Ali Jinnah (the founder of Pakistan), Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Khan Abdul Ghaffar