At a very young age, Malala developed a thirst for knowledge.
For years her father, a passionate education advocate himself, ran a learning
institution in the city, and school was a big part of Malala’s family. She
later wrote that her father told her stories about how she would toddle into
classes even before she could talk and acted as if she were the teacher.
In 2007, when Malala was ten years old, the situation in the
Swat Valley rapidly changed for her family and community. The Taliban began to
control the Swat Valley and quickly became the dominant socio-political force
throughout much of northwestern Pakistan. Girls were banned from attending
school, and cultural activities like dancing and watching television were
prohibited. Suicide attacks were widespread, and the group made its opposition
to a proper education for girls a cornerstone of its terror campaign. By the
end of 2008, the Taliban had destroyed some 400 schools.
Determined to go to school and with a firm belief in her right
to an education, Malala stood up to the Taliban. Alongside her father, Malala
quickly became a critic of their tactics. “How dare the Taliban take away my
basic right to education?” she once said on Pakistani TV.
In early 2009, Malala started to blog anonymously on the Urdu
language site of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). She wrote about
life in the Swat Valley under Taliban rule, and about her desire to go to
school. Using the name “Gul Makai,” she described being forced to stay at home,
and she questioned the motives of the Taliban.
Malala was 11 years old when she wrote her first BBC diary
entry. Under the blog heading “I am afraid,” she described her fear of a
full-blown war in her beautiful Swat Valley, and her nightmares about being
afraid to go to school because of the Taliban.
Much of the world's population, especially in poor countries, is
made up of children and young people. To achieve a peaceful world, it is
crucial that the rights of children and young people be respected. Injustices
perpetrated against children contribute to the spread of conflicts to future
generations. Already at eleven years of age Malala Yousafzai fought for girls'
right to education. After having suffered an attack on her life by Taliban
gunmen in 2012, she has continued her struggle and become a leading advocate of
girls' rights.
Pakistan’s war with the Taliban was
fast approaching, and on May 5, 2009, Malala became an internally displaced
person (IDP), after having been forced to leave her home and seek safety
hundreds of miles away.
On her return, after weeks of being away from Swat, Malala once
again used the media and continued her public campaign for her right to go to
school. Her voice grew louder, and over the course of the next three years, she
and her father became known throughout Pakistan for their determination to give
Pakistani girls access to a free quality education. Her activism resulted in a
nomination for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011. That same
year, she was awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize. But, not everyone
supported and welcomed her campaign to bring about change in Swat. On the
morning of October 9, 2012, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot by the
Taliban.
Seated on a bus heading home from school, Malala was talking
with her friends about schoolwork. Two members of the Taliban stopped the bus.
A young bearded Talib asked for Malala by name, and fired three shots at her.
One of the bullets entered and exited her head and lodged in her shoulder.
Malala was seriously wounded. That same day, she was airlifted to a Pakistani
military hospital in Peshawar and four days later to an intensive care unit in
Birmingham, England.
Once she was in the United Kingdom, Malala was taken out of a
medically induced coma. Though she would require multiple surgeries, including
repair of a facial nerve to fix the paralyzed left side of her face, she had
suffered no major brain damage. In March 2013, after weeks of treatment and
therapy, Malala was able to begin attending school in Birmingham.
After the shooting, her incredible recovery and return to school
resulted in a global outpouring of support for Malala. On July 12, 2013, her
16th birthday, Malala visited New York and spoke at the United Nations. Later
that year, she published her first book, an autobiography entitled “I Am
Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban.” On
October 10, 2013, in acknowledgement of her work, the European Parliament
awarded Malala the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
In 2014, through the Malala Fund, the organization she
co-founded with her father, Malala traveled to Jordan to meet Syrian refugees,
to Kenya to meet young female students, and finally to northern Nigeria for her
17th birthday. In Nigeria, she spoke out in support of the abducted girls
who were kidnapped earlier that year by Boko Haram, a terrorist group
which,
like the Taliban, tries to stop girls from going to school.
In October 2014, Malala, along with Indian children’s rights
activist Kailash Satyarthi, was named a Nobel Peace Prize winner. At age 17,
she became the youngest person to receive this prize. Accepting the award,
Malala reaffirmed that “This award is not just for me. It is for those
forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children who
want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change.”
Today, the Malala Fund has become an organization that, through
education, empowers girls to achieve their potential and become confident and
strong leaders in their own countries. Funding education projects in six
countries and working with international leaders, the Malala Fund joins with
local partners to invest in innovative solutions on the ground and advocates
globally for quality secondary education for all girls.
Currently residing in Birmingham, Malala is an active proponent
of education as a fundamental social and economic right. Through the Malala
Fund and with her own voice, Malala Yousafzai remains a staunch advocate for
the power of education and for girls to become agents of change in their
communities.
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Malala Yousafzai envisioning a confrontation with the Taliban
