Malala Yousafzai

On July 12th, Malala Yousafzai was born in Mingora, Pakistan. Her first breath was at home, since her family couldn’t pay a hospital birth. Her parents knew that their daughter would become a leader for her people in the years to come.
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Her lovely parents Ziauddin and Toor Pekai Yousafzai. Malala went a public school founded by her father and developed a desire for knowledge from an early age. She spent her childhood playing outside and exploring new worlds in books. She decided she wanted to become a doctor.

Her father encouraged her to think openly and express her political opinions freely.

In 2007, Taliban militants took control of her town.

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In December of 2008, the Taliban published an edict banning girls from going to school.

Malala refused to renounce her right to an education. Her father noticed her passion for standing up against the Taliban’s oppressive campaign and took Malala to Peshawar to speak at the local press club. There, she gave an impassioned speech to an audience of newspapers and TV channels. She asked them, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?”

Using the nickname “Gul Makai” to protect her identity, Malala began blogging for the BBC about life under the Taliban.

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During her months of blogging, the Taliban’s extremist violence intensified. In her notes, Malala detailed the sounds of gunshots and mortars at night, the devastation of almost 400 girls’ schools, the bodies of beheaded policemen in town, and the widespread bans on television, music, and women’s education.

Malala’s writing became inspiring, as girls began to go back to school. Her blog finished in March 2009. By that time, her experiences had received global attention and she was approached by New York Times reporter Adam B. Ellick to be featured in a documentary.

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During the Taliban no longer control Swat, they continue to be in rural areas outside Mingora.

Ziauddin’s school was able to open again and Malala was animated to return to the classroom. She divulged ideas for girls to go to school.

In 2011, she was awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize.

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On October 9th.
Due to her increased public attention, both in Pakistan and around the world, the Taliban target Malala. She was riding home from school on a bus with her friends when a masked gunman jumped aboard. He brandished a gun at the children and demanded to know which girl was Malala. As her friends turned to look at her, he fired three shots. One bullet hit Malala on the left side of her head, traveling down her neck and embedding itself in her shoulder.
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Malala survives, but stays behind in critical condition as she is transported to the United Kingdom for treatment.
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In January, after several surgeries and months of rehabilitation, Malala was discharged from the hospital and joined her family again at home in Birmingham, U.K.
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In March, Malala put on her backpack and school uniform and stepped into a classroom for the first time since the attack.
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Her first public appearance since the attack was on July 12th, Malala spoke at the United Nations on her 16th birthday. The U.N. declared July 12th “Malala Day”
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In October, Malala and Ziauddin set up Malala Fund, an organisation dedicated to give all girls access to education.

Over the next few years, Malala meets with girls around the world and many heads of state, carrying her message of girls’ education and equality.
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Malala and Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi won the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala invited girls from Syria, Nigeria and Pakistan to attend the ceremony in Oslo, as she became the youngest-ever Nobel Laureate.
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The following year, on her 18th birthday, she opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon. At the opening, her first words as an woman were a call-to-action for world leaders to spend money on “books, not bullets.”https://images.ctfassets.net/16x2v9yfboht/6FAKFOhSCsM4MWkGgqgGSM/68fc91800720976f9dea35d2998474b4/MalalaDay_2015.jpg

On her last “first day” of secondary school, Malala launches a campaign encouraging people around the world to support education for #YesAllGirls.
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Before starting university, Malala went to North America, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America on her Girl Power Trip. She was on a mission. Everywhere she went, she heard directly from girls about barriers to their education, like violence, poverty, child marriage and machismo culture.

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Today, Malala lives in Birmingham, UK, where she has been proudly accepted to Oxford University. There she is studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics to make strong her influence and further her advocacy for education.
Malala has shown exceptional strength and courage in the face of terrorism.
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