When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful
Malala
Malala is an activist who since childhood has been speaking out against the prohibition laws on education for young girls. Girls were not allowed to attend school, and activities such as dancing and watching tv were also prohibited. At 11 years old, Yousafzai began to submit online diary entries to the BBC. In “I Am Afraid”, she details her experience as a young Pakistani girl under the Taliban rule.
In 2011, she won the International Children’s Peace Prize and the Pakistani National Peace Prize. One year later, she was shot outside her school and suffered severe injuries. Upon her recovery, she continued her activism and at 16, she wrote the book “I Am Malala”. She went on to win the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the Nobel Peace Prize. She founded the Malala Fund, which allowed her to travel to different countries to do activist work and open schools for girls.
Born 1997, Pakistan
Selected resources
- Malala Yousafzai, “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”, 2013
- https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2014/yousafzai/biographical/