Malala Yousafzai was born in the Swat-valley in Pakistan. There she lived a normal life, went to school and met her friends. When she was 10 years old the Taliban took control over her home region and denied girls to go to school. However, Malala showed resilience: she continued to study and publicly took a stand for girl’s rights to education and wrote a blog for the BBC about life under the Taliban. When the Taliban tried to murder her due to her strong voice, she only hardly survives.
She is flown to Birmingham, UK for treatment and has lived there with her family ever since. But not even this deadly attack could silence the brave Malala. At age 15 she founded the Malala-Fund with her dad that supports young girls to get education. On her 16th birthday she held a speech at the UN General Assembly and with 17 years she became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Her quote: “A book and a pen can change the world” stands for the power of education and its importance worldwide. The Malala-Fund has warned about an ‘education crisis’ after the COVID-19 pandemic as many young girls were forced out of school in order to work. The fund aims at bringing them back to school and raises awareness for situations like this worldwide.
On July 12th, Malala’s birthday, the world celebrates Malala Day. A day to honour women and children’s rights that are so often suppressed and forgotten. It is also a day where one can take Malala as a role model. She reminds us of the importance of education, that we are never too young, that our voice matters and that resilience will bring results.