Showing results by narrator "Parmida Vand" in All Categories

Samra Habib has spent most of her life searching for the safety to be herself. As an Ahmadi Muslim growing up in Pakistan, she faced regular threats from Islamic extremists who believed the small, dynamic sect to be blasphemous. From her parents, she internalized the lesson that revealing her identity could put her in grave danger. When her family came to Canada as refugees, Samra encountered a whole new host of challenges: bullies, racism, the threat of poverty, and an arranged marriage.

A memoir of hope, faith and love, Samra Habib's story starts with growing up as part of a threatened minority sect in Pakistan and follows her arrival in Canada as a refugee, before escaping an arranged marriage at 16. When she realised she was queer, it was yet another way she felt like an outsider. So begins a journey that takes her to the far reaches of the globe to uncover a truth that was within her all along. It shows how Muslims can embrace queer sexuality and families can embrace change.