Dr. Begum Jan

Dr. Begum Jan was born in South Waziristan, in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan. She received her medical degree from Jalalabad Medical College, where she was the first woman to become student body president. After returning home, she joined the Pakistan Red Crescent, where she worked with women and children at a mental hospital. She also worked as a health care provider to Afghan refugees. Dr. Jan started the Tribal Women Welfare Association (TWWA) by selling her personal jewelry. Since the first project in Khyber Agency, Dr. Jan and TWWA have helped women in every single agency of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Extremist elements oppose Dr. Jan’s work to educate and improve the lives of these women, calling her efforts un-Islamic and a threat to traditional cultural values, but Dr. Jan has always struggled against customs and traditions that are at odds with basic human rights. During a time of unrest last year, she led a protest in Peshawar against conservative clerics who urged suicide bombings and violence against more moderate civic movements. As a child she attended a school for boys, because no other education was available, and she studied with a tutor when her tribal elders forbade her to attend high school. She traveled to Jalalabad on foot to study when there were no opportunities in her hometown.