With a plethora of significant and influential women whose voices are never heard, I’m here to shed a small amount of light to reveal two wonderful yet unknown women from where I’m from, Turkey. At this present day, where the Western ideals and culture has spread more than ever, representation is crucial. I’m here to shed some light on a rather more unknown area of Asia, Turkey.

The word Uyghur was always met with a blank face. Every Uyghur person growing up in the West can attest to their little speech for the inevitable “where are you from?” question. Some skip it altogether and say they are Turkish, or Uzbek, or even Chinese.

When I was 5, I went on vacation to London. I was a talkative child, and said hi to everyone I walked past. Naturally, they cooed over me and asked me my name and where I was from. I said I was from Sri Lanka. Cue confused glances at my parents – Is that one of those African countries, they hesitantly ask.