Malala Yousafzai- Women's Rights Advocate

“Malala Yousafzai was a girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban.”

Malala’s father owned The Kushal Public School in the valley of Swat in Pakistan and despite the fact that Malala was a girl, he encouraged her to learn how to read and write. During that time, this was considered outrageous and the family was threatened by a group called the Taliban. They thought women should not go to school, and had a radical interpretation of the Quran. As a young child, Malala never understood why it was so wrong for her, but appropriate for her brothers to go to school. At the age of eleven, angered by her experience, Malala stared accompanying her father to talk shows and radio broadcasts to speak about the right of women to attend school. Being a fabulous public speaker, Malala was invited to speak in front of many prestigious audiences and met many famous people along her journey. She even wrote a blog for BBC under the name of Gul Makai, in which she talked about her everyday life and fight against the Taliban. 

The Taliban later found out who she was and on October 9th, 2012 while returning from school, 

Malala’s bus was stopped at an army checkpoint and she was shot in the head. The Taliban feared she was preaching secularism and “Western Ways.” After a dangerous operation in Lady Reading Hospital, treatment in Riwaldi Army Hospital and the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, it was decided that due to her unstable condition, Malala was to be moved to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England. Because her family was poor, her travel and operation was funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other groups.

Due to her family’s lack of money and travel documents, an English doctor named Fiona Reynolds accompanied Malala to England. After spending considerable amounts of time with Malala, Dr. Fiona realized that her job was a risky one. She said “I felt if she'd died I would have killed Pakistan's Mother Teresa. Not often in my pampered life am I asked to put my neck out.”

Malala used her personal experiences to educate the world about the restrictions enforced by the Taliban regarding education for girls. Despite being an ordinary person, Malala brought about an extraordinary change through her courage and fearlessness. Today Malala is the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and continues to encourage girls to speak up for their education.

She tells us that “We realize the importance of our voice when we are silenced.” As a community, we are lucky to have the opportunity to get an education. Malala teaches us to be grateful for that chance and to speak up for those who are not as fortunate. “I don’t know why people have divided the world into two parts, west and east. Education is neither western nor eastern, education is education and it is the right of every human being.”