© Wikimedia Commons

Despite that Malala Yousafzai is only 17 years old, she became a legend because of her accomplishments and determination. When she was eleven, she wrote (blogged) about the harsh life in her home country Pakistan, also that she publicly campaigned for female rights to education and that she was shot by a Taliban mercenary because of her attempts to find the truth. From that moment on, Malala stunned the world with her courage and passion to fight for children’s rights to education and women’s rights around the world.

Malala Yousafzai was born in Mingora, Pakistan. When Malala was about two years old, the city of Mingora was a popular location amongst tourists and it was known for its summer festivals until the Taliban tried to take over control of the city. Although the number of problems in Pakistan grew, Malala still did not gave up and spoke about her and other children’s rights in her attempt to change the world.

Young activist

Malala has fought for her rights to education since 2008. She took an action against Taliban when they started attacking girl schools in Pakistan. Malala’s father brought her to the city of Peshawar so that she could talk to the local media club. The luck was on her side – few moments later, she made a speech called: “How Taliban dares to take away my right to education?” She also mentioned the difficulties she had to experience back in Mingora. The crowd was shocked by the fact that she had to carry her school books underneath her clothes. One year later, at the beginning of 2009, Yousafzai started to write a blog for the BBC about her life being in constant danger because of the Taliban. In order to hide her own identity, she used a pseudonym – Gul Makai. Unfortunately, her true identity was revealed in December later that year.

Ruthless attack        

When Malala was 14, her family was informed that the Taliban is threatening to execute the young activist. Malala’s family thought that the fundamentalist movement could not hurt a child in any way, but they were wrong. On September 9th, 2012 Malala was riding a bus back from school, when a stranger got on the same bus. The man immediately started to look for Malala and when he saw her friends talking to her, he fired a shot to her head. The bullet hit the left side of Malala’s head. There were two more girls injured after this attack. Malala was critically injured and she was flown into a military hospital in Peshawar. For a further treatment she was moved to Birmingham, England, where doctors put her in medically-induced coma. Despite all the medical operations that the young activist had – she didn’t suffer serious brain damage. After this incident, Malala received support from all over the world and it continues until the present day. Malala continued to write and on her 16th birthday she gave a speech at the UN about everything she had to experience.

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Nobel Peace Prize winner

In 2014, Malala received a united Nobel Peace Prize award along with Kailash Satyarthi, Indian children’s rights advocate and an activist against child labour. This award was given for the best work in the name of the brotherhood of nations and for all the difficulties these two activists had to encounter. When the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif congratulated M. Yousafzai, he stated that Malala is the pride of Pakistan and her merit achievement is incomprehensible. He also said that all the girls and boys around the world should follow Malala‘s footsteps and be as passionate and as determined as she is. Receiving the award at the age of 17 made her the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner of all time.

Malala fights for children‘s education and represents young women

Last year, when the United Nations announced 12th of July as the “Malala Day” (her birth date), teenager said that she represents 57 million children around the world who can’t go to school. She also said that Malala Day is not for her, it’s for all the boys and girls who stud up for their rights. Malala also added that one child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world and the education is the only option to achieve it.

M. Yousafzai tries to help girls overcome their personal obstacles and fears. The young activist met the President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja (Nigeria), because she wanted to represent the interests of kidnapped school girls. Malala addressed the kidnappers: “Put down your weapons. Release your sisters. Release my sisters. Release the daughters of this country. Let them be free. They did not commit any crime.”

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© Wikimedia Commons

She inspires millions of people

After some weeks when Malala was invited by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown started a petition by her name. “Malala” petition was started because of the United Nations Millennium Goal, which states that every single child should have the opportunity to go to school by 2015. Petition received more than 3 million signatures. This petition also encouraged Pakistan to allow the right to education law, which guarantees free education for all children. In 2013, Malala Yousafzai released a book called: “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”. Youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner of all time tells a story about harsh reality, a family, which was forced to move out of their home country because of the terrorism and her fight for children’s rights.

“Malala” fund is changing the world

During this year’s “Clinton Global Initiative” event, Malala said that her fund along with “Echidna Giving“ will dedicate 3 million dollars for a long-term commitment to support an educational initiative in developing countries. Also this year, Malala and other team members from the fund, has helped hundreds of Syrian refugee children to move from their war torn country to Jordan. Malala and her organization represents more than a million Syrian refugee children and helps them to get an education.

Wonderful dreams

Malala hopes to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan one day. The young activist says that she can serve her country throughout the politics. Teenager believes that big dreams come true. According to the Malala, the most important thing is to ask the world to do something, but sometimes this can not be achieved. It would probably be hard to count how many times young Malala was nominated for an award. “The Times” magazine called her one of the “100 most influential people in the world”. Madonna even dedicated a song to Malala, whereas Canada offered to give her an honorary citizenship. We could go for hours why we can call Malala a legend, but we can be sure about one thing – Malala Yousafzai inspires everyone with her story.

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