Malala Yousafzai

By Rebecca Hawkins on October 18, 2013

Malala Yousafzai was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year. According to CNN, if she was awarded the prize, she would have become the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and would have been the youngest winner ever of a Nobel Prize in any category. This came just a year after an Islamist militant shot her at point blank range in the head.

Malala has been an activist for education in Pakistan since the age of 11. She stood up to the Taliban and has become a global figurehead for a girl’s right to an education. This all began in 2009 when the Taliban banned girls in the Swat Valley of Pakistan from going to school. Despite the band, Malala continued to attend classes and began speaking out for education, even writing a blog of the BBC.

On October 9, 2012, the Taliban sent a gunman to confront Malala on her way to school. He fired three bullets at point blank range, one struck her in the left side of her head and left behind lasting damage to her ear drum and facial nerve.

However, it is a miracle that she survived and throughout her journey, she remains extremely modest. In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour she stated that she felt winning the prize at this point her life would be premature. She describes, “I would feel proud, when I work for education, when I would have done something, when I would be feeling confident to tell people, ‘Yes! I have built that school; I have done that teachers’ training, I have sent that (many) children to school.”[1]

And Malala has clear goals that she wants to accomplish in the future. She states, “ I want to become a Prime Minister of Pakistan, and I think its really good. Because through politics I can serve my whole country. I can be the doctor of the whole country.”[2] She is already on her way, she has partnered with the United Nations to promote global education. This week is the anniversary of her shooting, and she is publishing her memoir titled, I am Malala. The Pakistani Taliban has threatened to attack any bookstore that sells it and threatened to kill her again. However, she continues to stand up to the Taliban and is an inspiration for women everywhere.

Malala interview with John Stewart


[1] http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/11/world/europe/nobel-peace-prize-speculation-malala/

[2] http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/11/world/europe/nobel-peace-prize-speculation-malala/

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