Malala Yousafzai Story

Who is Malala Yousafzai?

Malala Yousafzai is an ordinary school-going teenager, just like you, but her fearless nature and daring acts have made her famous across the world.

Malala Yousafzai was born in a small town of Mingora in Pakistan. Ever since her childhood, Malala was a brilliant student and featured amongst the top-scoring students of her class. She used to write on the Internet about her tough life in Pakistan and her desire to attain education safely and freely.

In countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan, there are certain sects of people that believe that girls should only be trained to do household chores. According to them, Malala was committing a serious crime by encouraging girls to garner education.

On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot by a terrorist group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, when she was returning from school. Malala was hit in the head and the neck, but she miraculously survived the injuries. This condemnable act of the terrorists, instead of instilling fear and discouraging the girls worldwide, endeared this brave little girl to everyone around the world and further strengthened the girl education campaign.

National Peace Award

In recognition of her praiseworthy work, Malala was honoured with many awards. In 2011, she was awarded Pakistan’s National Peace Award for raising her voice against the gender bias.

Malala Day

Malala was also invited to speak in the United Nations Youth Assembly about the importance of education for girls. To honour Malala’s noble efforts and to remind us that gender bias is unfair in today’s society, the UN has declared that Malala’s birthday, July 12, will be celebrated as Malala Day.

Harvard’s Humanitarian Award

Malala was awarded the Harvard’s Humanitarian Award of the Year in September 2013. In the same month, she was presented with an honorary degree at Edinburgh University. She was also bestowed with the International Children’s Peace Prize from a Dutch children’s rights organization.

RAW (Reach All Women)

In October 2013, Malala was awarded the RAW (Reach All Women) in War: Anna Politkovskaya Award in London and in November 2013, Malala received ‘The Women of the Year Fund Honoree Award’ at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York.

Malala was also nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize and more than 300,000 people from every corner of the world signed a petition, advocating her as the worthiest candidate. She won the Nobel Prize in 2014 with India’s Kailash Satyarthi, a child rights activist.

She continues to inspire millions of girls to have the courage in them to put an end to gender bias and other social evils prevalent in the society. We salute this brave girl!

4 Interesting Facts about Malala Yousafzai

1. Malala used to write a blog for the BBC, under a pseudonym, describing in detail her life under the oppressive rule of the Taliban.
2. Malala, who is just 16 years old, has toured the entire world to promote the cause of education for the girl child. Many famous people and luminaries have invited her to meet them, including the Queen of England.
3. She was recently voted as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
4. Malala believes, “You are not powerful if you have a gun, because with a gun you can only kill. You are powerful when you have a pen because through a pen you can save lives and that’s the change we want to bring in our society.” Isn’t that truly inspiring for all of us?

Read the full transcript of Malala Yousafzai Speech, here https://mocomi.com/malala-yousafzai-speech/