“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”
― Malala Yousafzai
July 12, 1997, Malala Yousafzai, a brave and full of motivation girl was born to a Pashtun family in Mingora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. She grew up in northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. For this reason, she thinks and acts for equality of education. She wants all girls to get a chance to attending the school like what boys got. Regarding her struggle, she won the Nobel Peace Prize and 12 July (her birth date) is celebrated as World Malala Day.
According to Wikipedia.com, Malala was educated mostly by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner, and an educational activist himself, running a chain of private schools known as the Khushal Public School. In an interview, Malala once stated that she aspired to become a doctor, though later her father encouraged her to become a politician instead. Ziauddin referred to his daughter as something entirely special, allowing her to stay up at night and talk about politics after her two brothers had been sent to bed.
In a chance of speech, Malala gave a critical state “How dare the Taliban to take away my basic right to education?” Malala asked her audience. This action captured by local newspaper and television. Malala never has a fear to go with the right path. She wants the Taliban to stop the discrimination action in education. She wants all people could get their basic right which is studying, school, learning, and education. No matter how is their gender.
Time tells the Taliban all about Malala. Taliban gunman shot Malala on the bus. At that time, Malala was 15 years old. According to reports, a masked gunman shouted: “Which one of you is Malala? Speak up, otherwise, I will shoot you all.” Upon being identified, Malala was shot with one bullet, which traveled 18 inches from the side of her left eye, through her neck and landed on her shoulder.
According to an articles titled “Pakistani teen blogger shot by Taliban ‘critical’ after surgery”, NBC News and New York Times, after the shooting, Malala was airlifted to a military hospital in Peshawar, where doctors were forced to begin operating after swelling developed in the left portion of her brain, which had been damaged by the bullet when it passed through her head. After a five-hour operation, doctors successfully removed the bullet, which had lodged in her shoulder near her spinal cord. The day following the attack, doctors performed a decompressive craniectomy, in which part of her skull was removed to allow room for swelling.
This murder attempt captured by international media. This news spread over the world. UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, the former British Prime Minister, visited Malala while she was in the hospital, and launched a petition in her name and “in support of what Malala fought for”. Citizens of Pakistan and other country signed the petition to support and give a sympathetic response for Malala. BBC News informs that United States President Barack Obama found the attack “reprehensible, disgusting and tragic”, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Yousafzai had been “very brave in standing up for the rights of girls” and that the attackers had been “threatened by that kind of empowerment”.
On her 16th birthday, she had a chance to speak up in the UN. She was being the youngest person to get Nobel Peace Prize and she received standing ovations from all honored people there. That day was 12 July, and it was Malala Day. She said “Malala Day is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights.”
Now, Pakistani could get a better education. Malala has built many schools to provide the educational needs of children. She also made a great place for charity to fighting for education funding, building schools for girls and training young women to speak out for their rights. Now, Malala is studying “Philosophy, Politics and, Economics”(PPE) in Oxford and the memoir of Malala was written in a book titled “I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban”.
Written by: Sulistia Wargi. July 6, 2019
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