In reality what happened was we suddenly stopped. On our left was the tomb of Sher Mohammad Khan, the finance minister of the first ruler of Swat, all overgrown with grass, and on our right the snack factory. We must have been less than 200 metres from the checkpoint.

而事实是，校车突然被截停了。在我们的左手边，是长满杂草的希尔·穆罕默德·汗的墓园，他是斯瓦特第一任经济部长。在我们的右手边，是个零食加工厂。我们停在离检查点不到两百米的地方。

We couldn’t see in front, but a young bearded man in light-coloured clothes had stepped into the road and waved the van down.

我们看不到前方。但有个留着大胡子、穿着浅色衣服的年轻男子站在车身前方，挥手示意让车子停下。

‘Is this the Khushal School bus?’ he asked our driver. Usman Bhai Jan thought this was a stupid question as the name was painted on the side. ‘Yes,’ he said.

“这是胡沙尔学校的车吗？”他问司机。学校的名字就写在车身上。我仿佛能听见乌斯曼大哥在喃喃自语：这是什么蠢问题？他回答：“是的。”

‘I need information about some children,’ said the man.

“我需要其中几个孩子的信息。”男人说。

‘You should go to the office,’ said Usman Bhai Jan.

“你得去学校办公室。”乌斯曼大哥说。

As he was speaking another young man in white approached the back of the van. ‘Look, it’s one of those journalists coming to ask for an interview,’ said Moniba. Since I’d started speaking at events with my father to campaign for girls’ education and against those like the Taliban who want to hide us away, journalists often came, even foreigners, though not like this in the road.

他说话的时候，另一个穿着白色上衣的男人走到车后面。“你看，又是记者要来采访你了！”莫妮巴说。自从我开始跟着父亲在几个活动上发言，为女孩子争取接受教育的权利，抗议塔利班分子试图让女性穿遮面长袍后，便常有记者来访，甚至还有些外国人，但从来没有人像这样拦在路边的。