Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai is a female activist in Pakistani. She is regarded as one of the youngest (16years old) people who have ever won a Nobel Prize in the world. Yousafzai is known for advocating for human rights particularly the rights of women to receive education. She encouraged women in her home country in northwest Pakistan in Khber Pakhtunkhwa (Biography, n.d). She did not love the fact that the local Taliban decided to ban all the girls in the area from attending school. Yousafzai encouraged parents to allow their girls to go to school to receive education as a way to empower them.
Overview of Yousafzai’s life
Yousafzai having being born in a family that loves education decided to advocate for young girl’s education in a country where people did not see the value in educating them. Her family owned a number of schools in the region. She has mentioned that her father not only inspired her to do the humanitarian works and also the thoughts that she holds regarding education. It is because he loved education hence the reason for developing a chain of schools to give more people particularly women a chance to be educated (Biography, n.d). Yousafzai’s main role models are Benazir Bhutto and Jinnah.
Yousafzai’s works
Yousafzai began to speak about the importance of education as early as 2009 at the age of 11-12. It is during this period when she wrote a blog using a pseudonym account with the BBC Urdu. She managed to provide details about her life while still living in the Taliban. Through her blog, Adam B. Ellick, a journalist with New York Times became inspired by her story and decided with her permission to do a documentary (Biography, n.d). Through this, Yousafzai managed to rise in prominence. She was called by various media stations to give her story while others just wanted to interview her to acquire more information about the life of a girl child in Pakistan. However, by rising into prominence, she was exposing herself to threats especially from men in her community or those individuals who were not supporting educating a girl child.
In the year 2012 specifically on 9th October, Yousafzai was shot by one of the Taliban with an attempt to kill her (BBC, 2017). It was a clear sign that some of the Taliban were against her activist movement because she was exposing people to resistance especially after girls were blocked from attending schools in Pakistan. Yousafzai remained in a critical state for a long period as she found for her life after the shooting. She was admitted at Rawalpinding Institute of Cardiology where she remained unconscious for several days. Later, after her condition improved, she was transferred for further treatment in United Kingdom where she was admitted at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The murder attempt on the young advocate and activists sparked several international and national supports making her even more prominent and famous across the world. According to Deutsche Welle (2013), Yousafzai could have been among the most famous young teenagers after the shooting (BBC, 2017). It is because everyone was talking about her especially her work as an activist which she was applauded for greatly by the world. After several weeks after the shooting incidence, a group of Muslim comprising of fifty clerics in her country decided to condemn the acts calling on fatwa against those people who tried to murder her. It was one way in which the Pakistan Muslim group was showing solidarity with one of their own.
After recovering from the hospital and upon returning home, Yousafzai decided to continue with her activists work. While in Birmingham, she decided to establish Malala Fund which is a non-profit organization for helping in educating women. In the year 2013, she decided to write a book titled “I am Malala” which later became a bestseller in the international world. In the year 2015, in order to recognize her work and positive contribution towards education, a documentary focus on her life titled “Named Me Malala” was nominated for an Oscar award. She was also recognized by Time magazine for three consecutive years (2013, 2014 and 2015) where she was mentioned among the most influential children globally. However, in the year 2012, she received a National Youth Peace Prize which was offered to her by Pakistan. In the year 2014, Yousafzai was also recognized by being nominated together with Kailash Satyarthi as peace ambassador (BBC, 2017). She managed to win the Nobel Peace Prize where she was termed as the most brave teenage who was ready to fight against childhood oppression and call for the rights of all the children regardless of their gender to be educated.
She went to Edgabaston High School from the year 2013-2017 in the city of Birmingham. In order to recognize her good work and contributions towards changing the world, she was given a Canadian citizenship in the year 2017. At the same time, she was given a chance to speak in the House of Commons of Canada which was an experience of a kind because she was the youngest person to be given such a chance. By August 2017, she secured a chance at Lady Margeret Hall, Oxford where she is currently studying Philosophy, Economic and Politics (Hill, 2017).
References
BBC. (2017, Aug 17). Profile: Malala yousafzai. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23241937
Biography. (n.d). Malala Yousafzai. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/malala-yousafzai-21362253
Hill, A. (2017, Aug 17). Schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai wins oxford university place. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/17/schoolgirl-campaigner-malala-yousafzai-wins-oxford-university-place