There is no age requirement for heroes. The young can be wise, the old can be creative, and those in between can always surprise us with something new.
This past week, activist Malala Yousafzai celebrated her 20th birthday. Despite being the age of the typical college sophomore, she has accomplished so much in such a short amount of time.
Having grown up in the Swat Valley of northwest Pakistan, Malala was encouraged to pursue education just as any boy would, primarily because of the support of her father, Ziauddin. Inspired by her father’s work in the humanitarian and educational fields, Malala developed a love for learning early on. This quest to follow her education was halted in 2008, however, when the Taliban took control of Swat and began banning several things, including the education of girls. Still, Malala found a way to use writing as an outlet. She began blogging for the BBC about life under Taliban rule the following year, using the pseudonym “Gul Makai” to protect her family’s identity.
Later that year, the Pakistani army began fighting with the Taliban in the Swat Valley, forcing Malala and over one million others to flee. By 2011, the Pakistani army was able to force a retreat of the Taliban, although they remained a presence in the surrounding area. During this time, Malala is excited by the opportunity to return to school, and continues to publicly support the education of girls, earning her Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize.
On October 12, 2012, the Taliban targeted Malala because of her message and growing reputation. A gunman boarded her school bus, asked for her name, and shot her along with two friends who were also injured. Miraculously, Malala survives the attack and is eventually transported to the United Kingdom for further treatment and recovery.
Nearly one year later on July 12th, 2013, Malala made her first public appearance since the attack by speaking at the United Nations on her 16th birthday. The U.N. declared July 12 “Malala Day,” dedicated to highlighting the world’s most vulnerable young women. By October of 2013, Malala and Ziauddin set up the “Malala Fund,” an organization dedicated to providing girls with access to education.
Over the next few years, she would go on to meet with girls and leaders across the globe, uplifting and solidifying her message along the way. In December 2014, she won the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest Nobel Laureate. In 2015, she was the center of the award-winning documentary, He Named Me Malala, and helped open a secondary school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon.
Today, Malala continues to advocate for human rights and the education of women across the globe. Her 2017 plans include graduating from high school in the U.K., and attending university in the fall. Between that time, Malala has dedicated her summer to launching the Gulmakai Network to benefit community organizers at the grassroots level, while also embarking on the international Girl Power Trip to meet with students and activists worldwide.
Malala spent her 20th birthday in pure Malala fashion: visiting girls at an Internationally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Mosul, Iraq. Through her Girl Power Trip, she hopes to bring attention to the roadblocks preventing women from staying in school and the continued fight to equal access of education.
Malala’s dreams and inspiration knows no bounds. Through the opposition, and even cruelty, that she has faced, Malala has never allowed fear to stop her from pursuing what matters most. She continues to uplift the voices of women and girls everywhere, while highlighting different social structures that need to be changed. Malala has said that she dreams of becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan one day. Considering how far she has come at this point, there’s a good chance of us seeing that remarkable dream become a reality.