Anyone could see that Musharraf was double-dealing, taking American money while still helping the jihadis – ‘strategic assets’, as the ISI calls them. The Americans say they gave Pakistan billions of dollars to help their campaign against al-Qaeda but we didn’t see a single cent. Musharraf built a mansion by Rawal Lake in Islamabad and bought an apartment in London. Every so often an important American official would complain that we weren’t doing enough and then suddenly some big fish would be caught. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the mastermind of 9/11, was found in a house just a mile from the army chief ’s official residence in Rawalpindi. But President Bush kept praising Musharraf, inviting him to Washington and calling him his buddy. My father and his friends were disgusted. They said the Americans always preferred dealing with dictators in Pakistan.

大家都知道穆沙拉夫在两面讨好，拿美国的钱，协助圣战士——“战略资产”——这是ISI对塔利班的称呼。美国宣称他们给了巴基斯坦数十亿美元，让政府倡导反基地组织，但我们的人民一毛钱也没看到。穆沙拉夫在伊斯兰堡的拉瓦尔湖旁盖了一栋别墅，并在伦敦买了一层公寓。每隔一阵子，就会有个美国的重要官方人物抱怨我们不够努力，然后突然间就会有位什么大人物被逮捕。哈立德·谢赫·穆罕默德，9·11事件的主谋，就是在距离陆军参谋长于拉瓦尔品第的官邸不到2公里远的地方被逮捕。但是小布什总统还是一直称赞穆沙拉夫，邀请他到华盛顿，还称穆沙拉夫为他的好兄弟。父亲和他的朋友们全都对此很反感。他们说美国人一向都比较喜欢与巴基斯坦的军人政府打交道。

From an early age I was interested in politics and sat on my father’s knee listening to everything he and his friends discussed. But I was more concerned with matters closer to home – our own street to be exact. I told my friends at school about the rubbish-dump children and that we should help. Not everyone wanted to as they said the children were dirty and probably diseased, and their parents would not like them going to school with children like that. They also said it wasn’t up to us to sort out the problem. I didn’t agree. ‘We can sit by and hope the government will help but they won’t. If I can help support one or two children and another family supports one or two then between us we can help them all.’

我很小的时候就对政治感兴趣，我会坐在父亲的腿上，听他和朋友们讨论每件事，但我更在意发生在身边的事情，准确地说，就是在我们街边发生的事情。我告诉学校里的朋友关于垃圾山的孩子的事，我说我们应该伸出援手。但不是每个人都愿意这么做，他们说那些孩子很肮脏，搞不好还会有传染病，他们的父母也不会希望他们与那样的孩子一起上学。他们还说这种问题轮不到我们来解决。我不同意。“我们可以袖手旁观，等着政府处理，但他们不会出手的。如果我可以帮助一两个孩子，另一个家庭能再帮助其他的一两个孩子，那么我们就能一起帮助全部的孩子了。”

I knew it was pointless appealing to Musharraf. In my experience, if my father couldn’t help with matters like these, there was only one option. I wrote a letter to God. ‘Dear God,’ I wrote, ‘I know you see everything, but there are so many things that maybe, sometimes, things get missed, particularly now with the bombing in Afghanistan. But I don’t think you would be happy if you saw the children on my road living on a rubbish dump. God, give me strength and courage and make me perfect because I want to make this world perfect. Malala.’

我知道向穆沙拉夫请愿是没有用的。根据我的经验，如果父亲都帮不了我，就只剩下一个选择了。我写了一封信给真主。“亲爱的真主”，我写道，“我知道你可以看见所有的事，但也许有时候，有些事情被错过了，特别是现在阿富汗还有轰炸行动的情况下。但我知道你一定不愿意看到我家这条路上的孩子们住在垃圾堆里。真主啊，请给我力量和勇气，让我变得完美，因为我想让这个世界变得完美。马拉拉敬上。”