A Brave Pakistani Schoolgirl

Malala Yousafzai was born in 1997. She lived with her family in Mingora, a town in Pakistan. At that time the Taliban (Islamic extremists) took over in the region where she lived. They banned television, music, girls’ schools, and women going shopping. People could no longer watch the news and girls could no longer go to school. Girls and women had to be at home most of the time. That is not all. The Taliban killed thousands of people and destroyed thousands of homes, schools, farms etc.

When Malala was 11, she started writing a blog for the BBC. Because they worried about her safety, she had to use a pseudonym. She wrote about life under the Taliban, about the violence, about how fewer girls came to school, and about the closings of schools. She saw many horrible things. In time, she became a well-known activist. She gave many interviews for newspapers and magazines in countries all over the world and she appeared on many national and international televisions. Then everything changed.

It was Tuesday, 9 October 2012. Malala was on her school bus. A masked man with a gun came on the bus and shouted, "Which one of you is Malala? Speak up, or I will shoot you all." When he found out which one she was, he shot her three times. She was shot in the head. She was unconscious and her condition was critical. In a few days they send her to a hospital in Birmingham, England. Slowly, she got better. Her story was in the news all over the world. People everywhere worried about her, they admired her courage and supported her work.

Again, she gave many interviews for different media. She took every opportunity to speak about the right to education for all, about human rights, peace and non-violence. She spoke before the United Nations and she met Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace in 2013. In 2014, Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. At age 17, she is the youngest person ever to win the such an honourable award.

She believes in the power of education. “Let us pick up our books and our pens,” she wrote in her book. “They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.”

Today she lives in Great Britain because it would be dangerous for her to return to Pakistan. The Taliban still threaten her life but she says they will never silence her.