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Malala Yousafzai, 16 years old and one of 100 Most Influential People In The World
She was shot in the head by the Taliban. Yet, she stands today. And she has given one of the most inspirational speeches in front of the U.N. Youth Assembly on her 16th birthday last Friday [see video at the bottom].
This is the story of a beautiful young lady, who against all odds, is determined to educate herself and help educate the countless women and children in her country and around the world.
Malala Yousafzai (Pashto: ملاله یوسفزۍ; Urdu: ملالہ یوسف زئی Malālah Yūsafzay, born 12 July 1997), is an educational activist, who comes from the town of Mingora in the Swat District of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Early life
Malala has had a troubled childhood. In her early years, she was primarily educated by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner and an educational activist himself, running a chain of schools known as the Khushal Public School, named after a famous Pashtun poet, Khushal Khan Khattak. She and her father used to stay up till late at night, discussing politics, after her two brothers had been sent to bed.At the beginning of 2009, Malala got the opportunity to write a blog for BBC Urdu, when her father was asked by a BBC reporter in Pakistan if any women at his school should be willing to write about life under the Taliban. It has to be noted that at the time, Taliban militants were taking over the Swat Valley, banning television, music, girls’ education,and women from going shopping.The situation was so dire as even bodies of beheaded policemen were being hung in town squares!
In her, now famous, first blog entry for BBC Urdu one could observe her troubled psyche from the scanned handwriting notes, which were published anonymously to safeguard her identity at the time. At the time, the First Battle of Swat was ongoing.
Soon, the Taliban banned girls from attending school in Mingora, and began to destroy several girls' schools. Malala continued to write for BBC during this time. In her articles, she showed surprise as to why the Taliban were destroying these schools despite them being closed due to the ban. She wondered if she could write her annual exams, despite all the destruction around her.
Later in February 2009, a precarious peace emerged when the Taliban lifted restrictions on girl's primary education, allowing girls to attend co-ed schools; however girls-only schools were still closed.
On 15 February, with the intervention of the government, a peace deal was signed by the Taliban, which was announced on the Taliban owned FM radio station. However, there were a lot of gunshots and firing by militants during the process. A Pakistani reporter was killed, three days later, during a peace rally. Nevertheless, on 21 February, the Taliban announced on their radio station about the lifting of the ban on women's education, and that girls were allowed to attend school until the annual exams, provided they wear burqas.
Malala continued to write for the BBC till 12 March 2009. In April, the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed a controversial regulation into law that formally established a stricter interpretation of sharia law in the Swat region, supported by Sufi Muhammad, the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, a Taliban group operating in the area, who says that now "women will not be allowed either to go to jobs or markets".
After the BBC diary ended, Malala and her father were approached by New York Timesreporter Adam B. Ellick about filming a documentary. Meanwhile, in May, the Pakistani Army moved into the region to regain control during the Second Battle of Swat, leading to evacuation of Mingora and the displacement of Malala's family. She stayed with relatives at the countryside while her father went to Peshawar to lobby for support to reclaim their region from the Taliban.
It was in the summer of 2009 that Malala Yousafzai finally committed to becoming a 'politician' and be the voice of reason for her people - she would help raise the plight of women and children and advocate for education, compassion and love for all, not just the women and children in her country and world over but also for the oppressor such as the Taliban.
Political activism
Following the documentary in the summer of 2009, Yousafzai began to rise in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television and taking a position as chairperson of the District Child Assembly Swat. She has since been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by Desmond Tutu and the Nobel Peace Prize, being the youngest nominee in history for the latter. She is the winner of Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize.Assassination attempt and rehabilitation
I suppose it is fair to say that most of the world, me included, have heard of Malala Yousafzai from the infamous assassination attempt on 9 October 2012. On this day, a Taliban gunman shot Yousafzai as she rode home on a bus after taking an exam in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Malala bravely identified herself to the gunman, when he threatened the occupants of the bus that he would kill them all if she didn't do so. She was hit with one bullet, which went through her head, neck, and ended in her shoulder. Two other girls were also wounded in the shooting.After the shooting, Yousafzai was airlifted to a military hospital in Peshawar, where doctors were forced to begin operating after swelling developed in the left portion of her brain, which had been damaged by the bullet when it passed through her head. After a three-hour operation, doctors successfully removed the bullet that had lodged in her shoulder near her spinal cord.
In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition, but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in the United Kingdom for intensive rehabilitation.
Miraculously, she made a full recovery from this incident.
On 26 October 2012, while still at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Yousafzai was able to meet with her parents and the younger of her two brothers. Her father and Dr. Rosser gave briefings to the press, with her father recounting the care she had received in Mingora, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, and Birmingham, saying that when she was put on the plane to Britain, her brain had started to swell dangerously as she was in a medically induced coma, and they had started to think of the possibility of needing to make funeral arrangements, but that it had lessened during her time in Britain. Dr. Rosser said that the infection had disappeared, that she was able to walk largely unassisted, and that her hearing and vision were being tested to make sure they were undamaged by the bullet's trajectory. In a very positive sign, she retained memories of the last few days of her care in Britain, as well as of events that took place some time before the attack. By 8 November, she was photographed sitting up in bed.
UN speech - My impressions
This is the story of a beautiful young lady, who against all odds, is determined to educate herself and help educate the countless women and children in her country and around the world.She was shot in the head by the Taliban. Yet, she stands today, in front of the U.N. Youth Assembly, having given one of the most inspirational speeches.
She advocates education for all children and women, because it is them who suffer the most in this tumultuous area, with constant war and strife. She argues that without peace, they cannot sustain an environment conducive to education. She makes the point that it is education and information that the Taliban, and for that matter any terrorist, fears. She says that the bullet that went through her head did nothing to curb her enthusiasm - it only killed the fear in her and made her stronger, braver and more confident.
Despite what the world leaders say, it isn't through bullets and weapons that we can solve our problems. It is through education and we should educate those that are most impressionable - our children.
Malala says she has no animosity towards her aggressor, she means no harm to him. If she were given the opportunity, she only wishes to educate him.
Through her words, we do realize one thing - guns, bullets, tanks, armies. They do nothing. For over a decade, the US and other countries have invested military strength in Afghanistan and neighboring areas. We see that this has caused a lot more harm to the citizens, especially the women and children, than good. It is time we decide to let them grow and learn and prosper. And let this be a lesson not just for this region, but the whole world.
Source: Wikipedia
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