We Are Displaced: List 3

by Malala Yousafzai
In this book, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai collects the true stories of girls who have been displaced from their homelands.

This list covers Part 2: "Zaynab: Why Me and Not Her?"–"Najla: Thousands of People, Just Like Us."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
35 words 57 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. harrowing
    causing extreme distress
    I think of the first trip I took to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan in 2014 and all the Syrians I met at the border. They had reached the end of their harrowing journeys but only the beginning of their new, uncertain lives.
  2. lush
    produced or growing in extreme abundance
    I miss the lush green of Swat Valley, the place I called home for the first fifteen years of my life.
  3. siege
    an action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place
    I don’t miss the sounds of my city under siege: the army helicopters whirring above our home or the bomb blasts that got louder and closer each day before the government finally forced an evacuation.
  4. advocate
    a person who pleads for a person, cause, or idea
    I never thought of myself as being a global advocate for refugees.
  5. valedictorian
    the student with the best grades
    As it turned out, despite having been out of school for two years as she fled wars, Zaynab had just graduated from high school as valedictorian with a 4.0.
  6. regime
    the governing authority of a political unit
    We were living with our aunt in Aden when the revolution officially began at the beginning of 2011. It was influenced by uprisings in Tunisia that led to a regime change a few weeks earlier.
  7. indiscriminate
    failing to make or recognize distinctions
    That moment marked the beginning of what news reports were calling “indiscriminate bombings.” I called it bombs randomly falling from the sky with no one ever knowing when or where the next one would strike.
  8. faction
    a clique that seeks power usually through intrigue
    No one knew who was dropping the bombs because there were so many warring factions—the government, the revolutionaries, and the terrorist groups that wanted to take over the country.
  9. anguish
    suffer great pains or distress
    Then we heard the screams, so close, so anguished, that I thought someone must be hurt or worse.
  10. bout
    a period of indeterminate length marked by some condition
    She started talking to herself and having these long crying bouts.
  11. embassy
    a building where diplomats live or work
    My mother had been in touch with the US embassy, and my sister and I went together to apply for visas.
  12. tuberculosis
    infection transmitted by inhalation or ingestion of bacilli
    The house where we were staying had a computer, so I googled tuberculosis and learned that people can actually die from it. I had survived so much by then that to die from an illness felt particularly cruel.
  13. subside
    wear off or die down
    While the tuberculosis may have been subsiding, I started to feel sick from all the medicine.
  14. muster
    summon up, call forth, or bring together
    "Why?” was the only word I could muster.
  15. negate
    make ineffective by counterbalancing the effect of
    I could not even get excited that I had papers—my sister’s not having papers negated that.
  16. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    I had heard about the boats, too—and of people dying trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. But my sister was adamant.
  17. accommodation
    living quarters provided for public convenience
    When we arrived in Alexandria, we paid the one hundred dollars for our accommodations and were looking forward to a good night’s sleep. We had imagined a hotel room, so we were shocked when we arrived at an empty warehouse with a concrete floor and no furniture or even blankets.
  18. usher
    accompany or escort
    After a cold and sleepless night there, we were ushered onto another bus.
  19. parched
    extremely thirsty
    An hour or more passed, and I was so parched.
  20. expanse
    a wide and open space or area, as of land, sea, or sky
    And then I saw the never-ending expanse of blue. We were at the Mediterranean Sea.
  21. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    Just then, our bus driver arrived brandishing a knife. He said, “Everyone who has any Egyptian money or jewelry, give it to me.”
  22. unearth
    bring to light
    The 2016 US presidential election had unearthed intense animosity against Muslim people in the United States.
  23. animosity
    a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility
    The 2016 US presidential election had unearthed intense animosity against Muslim people in the United States.
  24. hijab
    a headscarf worn by Muslim women
    I was wearing my hijab, as I do everywhere, and this man stared at me and started shouting, “Jihad! Jihad!” I panicked, thinking maybe he had a bomb, and turned and ran backward down the escalator.
  25. solidarity
    a union of interests or purposes among members of a group
    But then she sat down and started asking us questions, and I realized, She is just like us. While our stories are different, I felt such solidarity with her.
  26. kindred
    similar in quality or character
    Muzoon spoke very little English, but it did not matter. The sparkle in her eyes and the hope on her face shattered any language barrier. I felt a kindred spirit.
  27. ecstatic
    feeling great rapture or delight
    When I found out the girl who wanted to meet me was Malala, I was ecstatic.
  28. aspiration
    a cherished desire
    We had a lot in common, and we had similar aspirations. I loved school, and I loved to dream about my future.
  29. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    When we finally arrived at the Zaatari camp, we were so thankful to have shelter: A twelve-by-twelve-foot tent became a makeshift home for me, my parents, siblings, and relatives.
  30. deprivation
    the disadvantage that results from losing something
    I knew that early marriage would trap girls in a cycle of poverty and deprivation.
  31. limbo
    a period of prolonged uncertainty
    I said over and over, “No one knows when we’ll go back to Syria! We could be in the camp for years.” The truth is, many of those girls are still living there, stuck in limbo.
  32. endure
    undergo or be subjected to
    Most of them couldn’t speak, they were still so traumatized by their experiences. Who knows if those girls will ever recover from the horrors they endured.
  33. monastery
    the residence of a religious community
    I stayed at a monastery for five days in the Sinjar Mountains.
  34. hyperventilate
    breathe excessively hard and fast
    Another sister sat next to him, hyperventilating. She was so scared that she couldn’t speak.
  35. facade
    the front of a building
    We could not afford to stay at the hotel for too long, though, so we found shelter in an unfinished building—there were no windows or interior walls, just the concrete facade with rough spaces where we set up our temporary home.
Created on Thu Sep 16 15:12:30 EDT 2021 (updated Mon Sep 27 09:45:00 EDT 2021)

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