Khalida Brohi

Khalida Brohi grew up in a small village in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan. Her parents had been married in a practice known as an exchange marriage, or watta satta. Her mother was 9 years old at the time, her father was 13. Khalida, the second oldest became the first girl in her village to go to school. Khalida, grew up in poverty, but her parents were keen to give their children opportunities they never had. The family grew and moved many more times, eventually landing in the slums of Karachi where Brohi continued her education. She had planned to study medicine and become the first doctor in her tribe, already an unusual path for girls, when an event changed everything. Her good friend and cousin was killed in the name of honor for falling in love with a boy who was not her betrothed.

This is when at 16 years of age, she decided to stand up for women’s rights and fight against honor crimes by unleashing potential in women. Brohi began her activism by writing poetry about the experience and reading it at any event that would allow her to speak.

Soon Khalida started going door to door and mobilized the youth in her community and launched the Youth and Gender Development Program (YGDP). This initiative began as a weekly gathering of young women to discuss economic opportunities in their communities. The program soon started providing skills trainings to young women and men while raising their awareness about honor killings and how they can take a stand against it.

In 2008, Khalida launched her first international campaign calling it WAKE UP Campaign against honor killing. Using Facebook, Brohi organized WAKE UP rallies to pressure the national government of Pakistan to close the loopholes in the law that allow honor killings and domestic abuse. Her Facebook campaign garnered thousands of international followers and led to numerous demonstrations.

Despite the success of the WAKE UP campaign, Brohi realized that the awareness she was creating in Karachi and globally was not reaching the women and communities who were suffering from domestic violence and the custom of honor killings. In response Khalida launched, the Sughar Empowerment Society, which is a non-profit organization which helps women in Pakistan learn skills related to "economic and personal growth." Sughar means "skilled, confident woman" in Urdu. The Sughar Empowerment Society provides women in the villages of Pakistan with income from their work, and the ability to "challenge negative cultural beliefs with education and information about women's rights.”

In 2015, while continuing her activism Brohi married David, an Italian-American, in a rare love marriage because of their different cultural and social backgrounds. Together the couple founded The Chai Spot in Sedona, Arizona, a peace-building social enterprise focused on promoting Pakistani arts and hospitality, while at the same time working to grow Sughar Foundation’s projects in Pakistan.

In 2018, Khalida and David opened their second Chai Spot in Manhattan and Khalida published her book I SHOULD HAVE HONOR.