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I AM MALALA
I Am Malala is a book written by Malala Yousafzai, who is considered one of the most inspiring women in recent times and will always remain so because of her brave efforts to champion the right to education for girls. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban is the story of elevenyear-old Malala, who risked her life and took a stand against the Taliban to fight for the freedom of education for girls, which was being denied in Pakistan. Malala’s book tells the remarkable story of a family who experienced the heat of global terrorism in the fight for girls’ education; a story of a father, a teacher, who encouraged his daughter to learn and be an independent woman; and a story of brave parents with an extreme love for their daughter in a society that praises sons!
When Malala was born in 1997, her father named her after an audacious woman who led troops into battle against the British in 1880. Malala’s parents came from a very remote area in Pakistan called Shangla, who later moved to Mangora, a small town in the Swat Valley district (just a hundred miles away from Afghanistan). Though her mother was illiterate, her father was a teacher and a great speaker. He opened a school for both girls and boys with his friends and business partners at a time when most women in the region were illiterate. Things were going well before the arrival of the Taliban, who completely changed the picture in the region. They began misguiding people by telling them to burn their books, CDs, and other study materials to keep girls away from the schools. During this time, Pakistan had just been affected by a terrible earthquake, floods, and many other natural disasters. Many people believed that they were being punished by God, and so they started listening to the Taliban. However, Malala and her father continued to promote education and women’s rights in their speeches. In early 2009, at the age of 11, she wrote a blog for the BBC website describing life under the rule of the Taliban.
Despite receiving numerous threats and seeing people killed every day by the Taliban, her father continued to encourage his daughter; in turn, Malala continued using her voice. Because of her sincere efforts, she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011 and was awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize. During the time that her efforts were being recognized everywhere, the Taliban, of course, did not favor her awards. Unfortunately, on Tuesday, October 9, 2012, she was shot by the Taliban while on her way home from school, and very few people expected her to survive. She was taken to the local hospital, but her condition deteriorated, so she was sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK to have surgery and recover from her wounds. By God’s grace, Malala recovered from her injuries, and together with her father, founded the Malala Fund, which promotes the right to education for females around the world. Since then, she has given many speeches at the UN and other international organizations to promote women’s right to education. In addition, she has won the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and received an award from the European Parliament, and in 2014, at the age of 17, she became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She spent her prize money on education by building a secondary school for girls in Pakistan.
There is no doubt that she has brought about a positive change to the world with her peaceful yet enthusiastic approach in the field of education for girls. Her organization’s next goal is to provide 12 years of free, safe, quality education to every child. What a wonderful goal!