Coming home late in the evening as a young girl in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, Zainab, then 15, feared each day could be the last time she could go to school. Living in a conservative district in Basra province, where females out alone in the evening are frowned upon, Zainab’s family were not happy about it. They were also concerned about her safety.
Her school, like many in Iraq, had been forced to divide and rotate pupils into morning, afternoon and evening shifts as there were not enough buildings available to accommodate all the students at once.
