Who is Malala Yousafzai?
"On October 9, 2012, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the face, while she was in a bus, on her way back home from school."
At 07:00, the alarm rings and we wake up to a beautiful morning sun. A cup of tea, newspaper, and a tidy healthy breakfast. We worry about a few bills, traffic, our bank balance, an outcome of a football match and choosing a dress from the wardrobe, and set off for work. Pretty smooth and simple. Now let me change a few things in a our morning schedule. Instead of bird chipings, what if you wake up to bomb explosions and 'rat-ta-tat' of gun fire. You go to your kitchen where all the cans are empty. You can see the sun, not through the window, but the holes left in the walls through shellings. You peek outside, timidly, to enjoy a morning breeze but all you breathe in is smoke and ashes. You quickly cross the road to get water, only to see, everything turned to rubbles. That's what a morning is like in a Zone of Conflict.
A young man, Ziauddin Yousafzai, had opened a school in the town of Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan, which is described as the Switzerland of the East. Swatis, had lacked a proper school for the young kids. Malala Yousafzai, the daughter of Ziauddin, in the Pashtun tribes of the hills, was one determined girl, who loved school. But Swat was suffering from the Taliban insurgency. And soon, it was one of the strongholds of the new Taliban regime. Shariat Law was established, public schools were shelled, girls were pushed back into their homes, and basic rights of the people were curbed. If one didn't accept their rules, they would end up at the square of the 'punished' that ranged from lashing to beheading.
Ziauddin challenged the clergy, raising his voice for the basic rights of education, and Malala his then 10 year old daughter was his comrade. Malala, was relentless, for she defied all the threatenings and waged on a war with Taliban. Before she was even 12, she was participating in talk shows, documentaries, interviews, and writing blogs on channels like BBC, Geo TV, CNN, New York Times, grabbing headlines everywhere, appealing to the world, showing the true face of Taliban. She was shot at point blank, and yet she lived, she recovered. Youngest nominee for the Nobel Prize for peace, she has admirers in UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, ex- British PM, Gordon Brown, US President Barack Obama, Madonna, Angelina Jolie (i can't list the numerous awards and numerous admirers she has won).
On 12 July 2013, Yousafzai's 16th birthday, she spoke at the UN to call for worldwide access to education. The UN dubbed the event "Malala Day". But she doesn't want to be known as the Malala who was shot, but as her father said, "Malala was born to be free".
"What terrifies religious extremists like the Taliban, the most is not guns or tanks...but a girl with a book".
'I am Malala', is her story.
Wandered-Lost-Crazy
"On October 9, 2012, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the face, while she was in a bus, on her way back home from school."
At 07:00, the alarm rings and we wake up to a beautiful morning sun. A cup of tea, newspaper, and a tidy healthy breakfast. We worry about a few bills, traffic, our bank balance, an outcome of a football match and choosing a dress from the wardrobe, and set off for work. Pretty smooth and simple. Now let me change a few things in a our morning schedule. Instead of bird chipings, what if you wake up to bomb explosions and 'rat-ta-tat' of gun fire. You go to your kitchen where all the cans are empty. You can see the sun, not through the window, but the holes left in the walls through shellings. You peek outside, timidly, to enjoy a morning breeze but all you breathe in is smoke and ashes. You quickly cross the road to get water, only to see, everything turned to rubbles. That's what a morning is like in a Zone of Conflict.
A young man, Ziauddin Yousafzai, had opened a school in the town of Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan, which is described as the Switzerland of the East. Swatis, had lacked a proper school for the young kids. Malala Yousafzai, the daughter of Ziauddin, in the Pashtun tribes of the hills, was one determined girl, who loved school. But Swat was suffering from the Taliban insurgency. And soon, it was one of the strongholds of the new Taliban regime. Shariat Law was established, public schools were shelled, girls were pushed back into their homes, and basic rights of the people were curbed. If one didn't accept their rules, they would end up at the square of the 'punished' that ranged from lashing to beheading.
Ziauddin challenged the clergy, raising his voice for the basic rights of education, and Malala his then 10 year old daughter was his comrade. Malala, was relentless, for she defied all the threatenings and waged on a war with Taliban. Before she was even 12, she was participating in talk shows, documentaries, interviews, and writing blogs on channels like BBC, Geo TV, CNN, New York Times, grabbing headlines everywhere, appealing to the world, showing the true face of Taliban. She was shot at point blank, and yet she lived, she recovered. Youngest nominee for the Nobel Prize for peace, she has admirers in UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, ex- British PM, Gordon Brown, US President Barack Obama, Madonna, Angelina Jolie (i can't list the numerous awards and numerous admirers she has won).
On 12 July 2013, Yousafzai's 16th birthday, she spoke at the UN to call for worldwide access to education. The UN dubbed the event "Malala Day". But she doesn't want to be known as the Malala who was shot, but as her father said, "Malala was born to be free".
"What terrifies religious extremists like the Taliban, the most is not guns or tanks...but a girl with a book".
'I am Malala', is her story.
Wandered-Lost-Crazy
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