Malala Yousafazi

• Angelicaa El Rassi, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2019

Malala has become a global icon and hero for her fearless efforts advocating for every child’s right to education. Malala Yousafzai, (born July 12, 1997) is a Pakistani activist who, while a teenager, spoke out publicly against the Taliban’s prohibition on the education of girls. She gained global attention when she survived an assassination attempt at the age of 15. As a girl born and raised in a country where only boys were allowed an education and the Taliban dominated the law, Malala had very few people on her side as she raised her voice in protest against the harsh people. After the Taliban attempted to silence her with violence, Malala rose up and chose to fight back with words. Later on, Malala published her own book called “I am Malala!” The book became an international bestseller and then in 2014 Malala was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace recognising their efforts on behalf of children’s rights. This teaches us that one should never underestimate the power that a child has to change the world for the better.

Malala, is the central person for female education. She is intelligent and more ambitious, as compared to other girls in the society that she lives in. She says, “It's hard for girls in our society to be anything other than teachers or doctors if they can work at all.” Malala choses to rebel against the traditions that defeated woman have to face. She’s compassionate and has a keen sense of justice. The type of hero that I think Malala is, is she is willing to put others before herself, a catalyst hero because she wants to change the world for the better and a loner hero because no one is on Malala’s side, they’re all against her but once she proves them how worthy woman are for education, she has the whole country rooting for her. It’s hard to find a child like Malala with a relentless belief in her power to change the world.

In my perspective, Malala is the bravest, courageous, kindhearted human being in the world. She’s confident and has the gut to speak up to people about her rights as a teenage girl. If I was Malala, I wouldn’t have did what Malala is known for today. Standing up to people older than me is frightening let alone speaking to politicians about a serious topic like female education. Malala has not just been a Hero because of standing up for the opportunity for girls education but she’s a hero because of how she survived the Taliban shooting, publishing her own book about her experience and influencing people especially young children about putting themselves before others.
If you think about it, we as Nagle College, an All Girls School, wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Malala since she introduced education for girls in her country and influence people around the world to do the same.