Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12th, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. During her early life, her hometown was a popular tourist spot known for its summer festivals, but that changed when the Taliban tried to take control. Malala went to a school that her father had founded. When the Taliban began attacking girls’ schools, she have a speech, the title of which was “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” In early 2009, when she was 11 years old, Malala began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban’s threats to deny her an education. To hide her identity, she used the name Gul Makai. However, during the December of that year, her identity was revealed. Malala continued to speak out about the right of all women to an education. Her activism led to her being nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011, and she was awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize that same year.

A Major Event

Yousafzai and her family learned that the Taliban had issued a earth threat against her because of her activism. Malala was frightened for her father, an anti-Taliban activist, but she and her family felt that the fundamentalist group wouldn’t harm a child. On October 9th, 2012, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was riding a bus home from school with her friends, when a masked gunman boarded the bus and demanded to know which girl was Malala. Her location was given away when all her friends looked towards her. The gunman fired at her, hitting the left side of her head - the bullet then traveled down her neck. Two other girls were also injured in the attack. After the shooting, Yousafzai was flown to a military hospital in Peshawar. A portion of her skull was removed to treat her swelling brain. Then, to receive more care she was transferred to Birmingham, England. The shooting resulted in Malala gaining a lot of support, but unfortunately, the Taliban still considers her a target. Nine months after being shot by the Taliban, she gave a speech at the UN on her 16th birthday in 2013. She highlighted a focus on education and women’s rights, and urged leaders to change their policies.