雙語暢銷書《我是馬拉拉》第3章2:負擔生計

My grandfather had a different dream for his youngest son – he longed for him to be a doctor – and as one of just two sons, he expected him to contribute to the household budget. My father’s elder brother Saeed Ramzan had worked for years as a teacher at a local school. He and his family lived with my grandfather, and whenever he saved up enough of his salary, they built a small concrete hujra at the side of the house for guests. He brought logs back from the mountains for firewood, and after teaching he would work in the fields where our family had a few buffaloes. He also helped Baba with heavy tasks like clearing snow from the roof.

對於父親的未來，祖父和他有着不同的設想--他希望兒子能成爲一位醫生。父親是家裏僅有的兩個兒子之一，祖父希望他能夠幫家裏負擔生計。父親的哥哥賽義德.拉姆贊已經在當地的公立學校當了好多年老師。他們一家子和我祖父住在一起。每當大伯存夠一小筆錢的時候，他們就在屋子旁增建一間小小的會堂。學校下課後，大伯會到農場裏做事，從山上採集木柴回來生火，照顧家裏的那幾頭水牛，也幫祖父做那些比如清除屋頂上積雪一類的粗活。

When my father was offered a place for his A Levels at Jehanzeb College, which is the best further education institution in Swat, my grandfather refused to pay for his living expenses. His own education in Delhi had been free – he had lived like a talib in the mosques, and local people had provided the students with food and clothes. Tuition at Jehanzeb was free but my father needed money to live on. Pakistan doesn’t have student loans and he had never even set foot in a bank. The college was in Saidu Sharif, the twin town of Mingora, and he had no family there with whom he could stay. There was no other college in Shangla, and if he didn’t go to college, he would never be able to move out of the village and realise his dream.

大學入學考後，父親收到傑哈茲布大學的入學許可，那可是斯瓦特地區最好的大學。可祖父卻不願意支付他的生活開銷。祖父在德里唸書是免費的--他住在清真寺裏，像宗教學生一般度日，當地人爲他們這些學生提供飲食和衣着用品。傑哈茲布大學是免學費的，但父親需要生活費。巴基斯坦沒有學生貸款，他也從沒踏進過銀行一步。大學位於賽杜.沙里夫--明戈拉的姐妹城，那裏也沒有任何親戚家可以借住。如果他不能去傑哈茲布，香拉也沒有其他大學了。而如果他不能去念大學，他就再也沒有機會離開村子實現夢想了。

My father was at his wits’ end and wept with frustration. His beloved mother had died just before he graduated from school. He knew if she had been alive, she would have been on his side. He pleaded with his father but to no avail. His only hope was his brother-in-law in Karachi. My grandfather suggested that he might take my father in so he could go to college there. The couple would soon be arriving in the village as they were coming to offer condolences after my grandmother’s death.

當時，父親已智窮計盡，走投無路。親愛的祖母剛在他畢業前夕過世。他知道如果祖母還活着，一定會支持他的決定。他企圖說服祖父，卻徒勞無功。他只能把唯一的希望寄託在住在卡拉奇的姐夫身上。祖父說如果他們願意收留父親，他就可以去那裏念大學。父親祈禱姐姐、姐夫能夠答應。他們夫妻兩人爲了悼念祖母，已經在趕回村子的路上了。

My father prayed they would agree, but my grandfather asked them as soon as they arrived, exhausted after the three-day bus journey, and his son-in-law refused outright. My grandfather was so furious he would not speak to them for their entire stay. My father felt he had lost his chance and would end up like his brother teaching in a local school. The school where Uncle Khan dada taught was in the mountain village of Sewoor, about an hour and a half ‘s climb from their house. It didn’t even have its own building. They used the big hall in the mosque, where they taught more than a hundred children ranging from five to fifteen years old.

祖父在他們剛結束三天的車程、筋疲力盡地抵達村子的當下，就開口提出這個請求。他的女婿當即就拒絕了。祖父震怒之下，在他們拜訪期間，竟然一句話都不跟他們說。父親認爲自己已經失去最後的機會了，終將和他的哥哥一樣，在當地的學校裏教書。賽義德大伯任教的學校在一個名叫瑟霧的山中村莊，每天要走大概一個半小時的山路才能抵達。學校沒有教室。老師們在清真寺的穿堂裏，爲一百多名五到十五歲之間的孩子們上課。

The people in Sewoor were Gujars, Kohistanis and Mians. We regard Mians as noble or landed people, but Gujars and Kohistanis are what we call hilly people, peasants who look after buffaloes. Their children are usually dirty and they are looked down upon by Pashtuns, even if they are poor themselves. ‘They are dirty, black and stupid, ’ people would say. ‘Let them be illiterate.’ It is often said that teachers don’t like to be posted to such remote schools and generally make a deal with their colleagues so that only one of them has to go to work each day. If the school has two teachers, each goes in for three days and signs the other in. If it has three teachers, each goes in for just two days. Once there, all they do is keep the children quiet with a long stick as they cannot imagine education will be any use to them.

住在瑟霧的是古扎爾人、科希斯坦人和米安人。對我們來說，米安人算是文明人，而古扎爾人和科希斯坦人則被我們稱爲“山番”，大多是照顧水牛的鄉下人。他們的孩童往往看起來髒兮兮的。雖然村民們自己也很窮，仍會看不起這些孩子。“他們又髒又黑又笨，”他們會這麼說，“就讓他們當文盲好了。”老師們都很不願意被派駐到這麼偏遠的學校，所以他們彼此間會達成協議，每天只派一位老師去爲學生們上課。如果學校裏有兩位老師，就由其中一位去教課，然後幫另一位簽到。如果有三位老師，那麼他們每人每週就只需要去學校兩天。而所謂上課，也就是老師用教鞭讓學生保持安靜而已，因爲大家一致認爲教育對這些孩子不會有什麼作用。