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Early Life:Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, the largest city in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. She is the daughter of Ziauddin and Tor Pekai Yousafzai and has two younger brothers.
At a very young age, Malala developed a thirst for knowledge. For years her father, a passionate education advocate himself, ran a learning institution in the city, and school was a big part of Malala's family. Yousafzai started speaking about education rights as early as September 2008, when her father took her to Peshawar to speak at the local press club. BBC Blogger:On 3 January 2009, Yousafzai's first entry was posted to the BBC Urdu blog. She would hand-write notes and then pass them on to a reporter who would scan and e-mail them. Under the blog heading "I am afraid," she described her fear of a full-blown war in her beautiful Swat Valley, and her nightmares about being afraid to go to school because of the Taliban. As military operations take place, fewer girls show up to school, and finally, her school shuts down.
I speak not for myself but for those without voice,those who have fought for their rights,their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated." |
Murder Attempt:
On the morning of October 9, 2012, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban.
Seated on a bus heading home from school, Malala was talking with her friends about schoolwork. Two members of the Taliban stopped the bus, asked for Malala by name, and fired three shots at her. One of the bullets entered and exited her head and lodged in her shoulder. Malala was seriously wounded. That same day, she was airlifted to a Pakistani military hospital in Peshawar and four days later to an intensive care unit in Birmingham, England.
Seated on a bus heading home from school, Malala was talking with her friends about schoolwork. Two members of the Taliban stopped the bus, asked for Malala by name, and fired three shots at her. One of the bullets entered and exited her head and lodged in her shoulder. Malala was seriously wounded. That same day, she was airlifted to a Pakistani military hospital in Peshawar and four days later to an intensive care unit in Birmingham, England.
After the shooting:
Yousafzai spoke before the United Nations in July 2013, and met Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace. In October she met with US President Barack Obama and his family; during that meeting, she confronted him on his use of drone strikes in Pakistan.In July 2014 Yousafzai spoke at the Girl Summit in London, advocating for rights for girls.In October 2014, after receiving the World Children's Prize for the rights of the child in Mariefred, Sweden, she announced donating $50,000 through the UNRWA, to help rebuild 65 schools in Gaza.
Nobel Prize:
At age 17, she became the youngest person to receive this prize. Accepting the award, Malala reaffirmed that "This award is not just for me. It is for those forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change."