Malala Yousafzai is an activist for human rights, more specifically speaking about letting girls all around the world get an education. At the age of 15, she got shot in the head by the Taliban when she was going home from school. Even after an attempted assasination on her and receiving death threats, she didn’t give up. She still made her voice public and ended up being the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which happened in 2014, making her 17 at the time.
If there is one book that schools should require their students to read, it should be I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education And Was Shot By The Taliban. When I read the book, my number one takeaway was how education is a privilege. I know a lot of people who would always complain about waking up in the morning because they had to go to school. Yet people like Yousafzai had to speak out about not being allowed to go to school just because she was a girl. We don’t realize how lucky we are to have our necessities until it is taken away from you, or when it was never there and we need to fight for our right to get what we need. You can order her book on amazon here.
International Malala Day takes place on July 12, which is also her birthday. On this day in 2013, along with her giving a speech to the United Nations about the access of education for everyone. In the speech, she recalls saying “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.”