Born in Mingora, Pakistan in the country’s Swat Valley, Malala Yousafzai became an advocate for girl’s education rights after the Taliban began attacking girls’ schools in the valley. Swat was overshadowed by the Taliban when Yousafzai was merely at the age of ten. 

Although at such a tender age, Yousafzai was wise enough to understand why the Taliban would want to cease every girl’s right to an education. By mere observations and with guidance and lessons from her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, she began to see how threatened the Taliban felt if Swat was plagued by intelligent and independent women. Her fight for education took a brave, yet deadly stance thereafter.
Initial activism began when a speech was given by Yousafzai in Peshawar, Pakistan in September 2008. The speech encompassed a burning discussion titled: “How dare the Taliban take away my right to education?”
They said music was a crime, women weren’t allowed to go to the market and girls couldn’t attend school. Raised in a once peaceful area of Pakistan which changed under the terrorists, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. She is renowned for always attaining first place in her classes. She’d constantly state in her speeches “I thank my father for not clipping my wings” since that motivated her to fight for her right to be educated.
Thereafter, in the midst of 2009, Yousafzai became a BBC blogger that featured her along with other girls’ lives that were targeted by the Taliban. She disguised herself behind the name “Gul Makai” for security purposes. BBC on the other hand, revealed her true identity in December that year after being featured in a New York Times documentary about education in Pakistan and its challenges.
It was just after her first bit of exposure; Yousafzai’s altruism grew into a public platform and has subsequently won the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011. She was then awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize.
Just after Yousafzai was gaining international fame by ways of demanding education for every girl in Swat, the Taliban began threatening her. She was then 14 when she learned that the Taliban had issued a death threat against her. Frightened for her safety and her father, who is an anti-Taliban activist, the Yousafzai family felt that the Taliban were just “bluffing.”
Their assumption proved wrong. On October 9, 2012 while on her way home from school, a man under the Taliban’s order boarded the bus she was riding in and demanded to know which girl was Malala. When her friends looked toward Malala, her location was given away. The gunman fired at her, hitting Malala in the left side of her head; the bullet then travelled down her neck. Two other girls were also injured in the attack.
The shooting left Malala in a critical condition, so she was flown to a military hospital in Peshawar. A portion of her skull was removed to treat her swelling brain. To receive further care she was transferred to Birmingham, England.
After being transferred to the United Kingdom, Yousafzai was then taken out of a medically induced coma. She was required multiple surgeries inclusive of repairing a facial nerve to fix the paralysed left side of her face. Fortunately, she suffered no major brain damage and was able to attend school in Birmingham in March 2013.
Moreover, while Yousafzai was in recovery at the hospital, the world was standing by her side in supporting her demands for girls’ educational rights. She received numerous support letters along with multiple appreciations from countries affected by such acts of the Taliban.
On her 16th birthday in 2013, Yousafzai presented a speech at the United Nations thereafter penning her experiences with much guided assistance from author Patricia McCormic in a diary form which was first published worldwide in August 2014 titled “I am Malala.” Her novel is readers’ friendly and is inclusive of exclusive photos and material where every reader would be hear the remarkable story of a girl who was convinced at a young age that she wanted to change the world and she did.
Her story is powerful and will open the eyes to another world. It will make one start believing in hope, truth, miracles and the possibility that one person-one young person-can inspire change in her community and beyond. Nevertheless, the Taliban still considers Yousafzai a target yet despite their threats; Yousafzai remains a steady advocate for education rights.
In acknowledgment of her work, Yousafzai was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament. It was the same year, (2013) she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize but did not win the prize and was therefore, once nominated again in 2014 for the same prize. Yousafzai then won the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2014, along with Indian Children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.
She became the youngest person to receive such an award at the age of 17. She was then congratulated by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He said: “She is (the) pride of Pakistan, she has made her countrymen proud. Her achievement is unparalleled and unequaled. Girls and boys of the world should take lead from her struggle and commitment.”
On December 10,2014 UNESCO and Pakistan launched the Malala Fund for Girls’ Education at a high-level event held as part of the celebrations for Human Rights Day. At the event – Stand Up for Malala, Girls’ Education is a Right – the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari announced that his country would donate the first $10 million. The organisation has been aiding countries and persons around the world in combating terrorism and catastrophes.
It was Malala’s dream initially to become Prime Minister of Pakistan one day, but upon recognising that the world needs more doctors to save lives, her dreams took an incredible twist: an aspiring doctor.

(By Shivanie Sugrim

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