Malala Yousafzai

Why Malala Yousufzai is an inspiration to us all

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1. The young woman is tremendously brave
As early as 2008, Malala had already begun her fight for education rights.
According to the Toronto Star, her father brought her to Peshawar to
speak to a local press club in September of that year. “How dare the
Taliban take away my basic right to education?” she said to the group
gathered, adding that she hid her textbooks under her clothes when she
walked to school.

Malala was just 11 at the time.

Since the failed assassination attempt, terrorists have said that they will
“attack” her again if they get the chance; but Malala, who — at the age of
11 also began writing a blog for the BBC, describing her life under
Taliban rule — has refused to be intimidated.

“If I speak truly, I’m a little bit scared of ghosts,” she famously told
NDTV in 2013. “But I’m not afraid [of the Taliban]. No, not at all.”

2. She’s also tremendously compassionate

Malala famously left "The Daily Show"’s Jon Stewart speechless when
she told him what she would tell a member of the Taliban if she ever met
one face to face.

She said: “I would tell him how important education is and that I would
 even want education for your children as well. That’s what I want to tell
you. Now do what you want.”

3. She’s fighting for every child’s right to go to

school
Last year, on July 12, when the United Nations declared the teenager’s
birthday “Malala Day,” the youngster stood up to address the dignitaries
gathered and told them about how she represents the estimated 57 million
children around the globe who are not currently going to school.

“'Malala Day' is not my day,” she said in a speech delivered at the U.N. in
New York. “Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl
who have raised their voice for their rights.”

“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world,” she
said later. “Education is the only solution. Education first.”

4. And she’s inspiring millions of others to do the

same
In the weeks after she was shot, United Nations Special Envoy for Global
Education, Gordon Brown, launched a petition in her name. The Malala
Petition called for the U.N. to recommit to Millennium Development Goal
2, which aims to get every child in school by 2015. The petition
eventually got more than 3 million signatures.

The petition reportedly prompted Pakistan to pass a Right to Education

bill, which guarantees free education for all children.

5. She won’t let haters stand in her way

She has supporters worldwide, but Malala has also endured her fair share
of criticism.

She has, for instance, been accused by some of abandoning her own
people and becoming a Western mouthpiece. Responding to these
accusations, she told the BBC last year: "My father says that education is
neither Eastern or Western. Education is education: it's the right of
everyone."