Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. Mingora is located in the Swat Valley & for the first few years of her life, it remained a popular tourist site, known for it's summer festivals. But everything changed when the Taliban began to seize control of the region. As a child, she attended a school that her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, had founded. After the Taliban began attacking girl's schools in the Swat, Malala gave a speech in Peshawar, Pakistan, in September 2008. The name of the talk was, "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?". In early 2009, when she was just 11 years old, Malala began blogging for the BBC, about living under Taliban threats to deny her an education. In order to hide her identity, she used the pseudonym, Gul Makai, however her identity as the anonymous blogger was revealed in December of that year.
With a rapidly expanding public platform, Malala continued speaking about her right and the right of all women- to an education. In 2011, her activism earned her a nomination for the International Children's Peace Prize, that same year she was awarded Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize. Eventually, Malala and her family discovered that the Taliban had issued a death threat against her, because of her activism for women. Malala worried for the safety of her father, who was an anti-Taliban activist, but the family didn't believe the fanatic Islamic group would actually do any harm to a child.
However, on October 9, 2012, when Malala, than 15, was riding a bus with friends, on their way home from school, a masked gunman boarded the bus and demanded to know which of the girls was Malala. As her friends turned to look at her, her identity was revealed. The gunman shot at her, hitting her on the left side of the head, the bullet than made it's way down her neck. Two other girls were also injured in the attack. Malala was left in critical condition and she was flown to a military hospital, in Peshawar, were she underwent emergency surgery. To receive further treatment she was sent to Birmingham, England. Once in Birmingham, Malala was taken out of a medically-induced coma. Though she required multiple surgeries including, repairs of a nerve on the paralyzed left side of her face- shockingly she suffered no severe brain damage. In March 2013, she was able to start attending school in Birmingham.
After the shooting, there was an outpouring of support for Malala, from people all over the globe. Unfortunately, the Taliban still considers her a target, though she remains a staunch advocate for the power of education. Nine months after being shot by the Taliban, Malala gave a speech at the UN, on her 16th birthday in 2013. She put special emphasis on education and women's rights, urging world leaders to change policies on these issues. Malala also went on to say, "The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born." Malala also urged action against illiteracy, poverty & terrorism, "The extremists were, and they are, afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women... Let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons." During Malala's speech at the UN, Secretary-General Ban Kimoon, pronounced July 12, Malala's birthday, as "Malala Day", in honor of the young leader's activism to ensure education for all. In October 2014, Malala became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize, at just 17 years old; she received the award along with Indian childrens' rights activist, Kailash Satyarthi. In congratulating Malala, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif 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."
Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Kimoon described Malala as, "a brave and gentle advocate of peace who, through the simple act of going to school, became a global teacher." In 2013, Malala and her father launched the Malala Fund, which works to ensure girl's all around the world have access to 12 years of free, safe, quality education. The fund prioritizes assistance to it's Gulmakai Network, which is based in countries like: Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Turkey & Pakistan, where girls frequently miss out on a secondary education. For her 18th birthday, in July 2015, Malala opened a school for Syrian refugee girls, in Lebanon. It's expenses were covered by the Malala Fund & is designed to admit nearly 200 girls, from ages 14 to 18. In April 2017, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, appointed Malala as a UN Messenger of Peace, to promote girl's education.
On March 29, 2018, Malala returned to Pakistan for the first time since her brutal attack, in 2012. Soon after arriving, she met with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and delivered an emotional speech, in his office. "In the last five years, I have always dreamed of coming back to my country," she said, adding, "I never wanted to leave." During her visit to Pakistan, she visited the Swat Valley, as well as the site where she nearly died at the hands of the Taliban. Additionally, she was also scheduled to inaugurate a school, being built for girls with aid from the Malala Fund.
Malala published her autobiography, I Am Malala: The Girl who Stood Up for Education & was Shot by the Taliban, in October 2013. It became an international bestseller. Malala has also written two other books: Malala's Magic Pencil (2017) & We Are Displaced (2018). Malala began studying at Oxford University, in 2017. She studies philosophy, politics & economics.
https://www.biography.com/activist/malala-yousafzai
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