Being Malala - Part IV
Part IV
Till now I have
not introduced this girl. I wanted to narrate her story of courage and protest,
as a story of an ordinary girl who is deprived of her rights due to the worst situations. Every girl has the potential
to raise her voice for her rights, just like this Pakistani girl. If every girl identifies her
inner strength, then no power is stronger than hers. This small girl of a very
small town has crossed all the barriers to fight for her rights and for the
whole community. She proved that age and sex are no bars to fulfil your dreams.
On 9th
October 2012, it was the date which
changed her life completely. It was that date which brought a revolution in her
life. It was afternoon when she and her
friends were returning from school, like any other day. They were giggling,
enjoying and chatting on their school
bus. All of them have covered their faces with burqas, but only this little
lady’s face was uncovered. Suddenly, the bus stopped. A masked gunman shouted, “Which one of you
is Malala? Speak up, or else I will shoot you all.” All the eyes were
pointing at this girl. Being identified, he shot her one bullet which went
through her head, neck and stopped at her shoulder and two more bullets were
fired that wounded two of her friends.
Malala Yousafzai,
a girl of immense strength, was now fighting for her life. She was shot because
she didn’t stop. She was airlifted to
Peshawar for treatment in the military hospital. After a long operation, the
doctors were successful in removing the bullet from her body. Best treatment possible was being provided to her but doctors
said that there was only 70% of chances of her survival. They suggested to move
her to Germany to receive the better medical treatment. There were offers from
all over the world to treat Malala. When she was slightly stable, then under
the supervision of the team of doctors she was taken to Birmingham, England. A
specialist team started her treatment.
She was rightly
named Malala after the name of the 19th-century
female Afghan freedom fighter. She proved the real
meaning of her name. On 17th October
2012, she was out of her coma and responded well to the treatment. Even death
could not defeat her. This accident gave her more strength and energy to fight
once again. She said in her first public speech after the attack that, “They thought a bullet would
silence us, but they failed. Nothing changed in my life except this: Weaknesses,
fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born.” She was discharged from the hospital on 3rd January 2013 and moved to her temporary
residence at West Midlands. She got the rebirth, for a purpose. The purpose was
to stand for all the girls and women who are deprived of their right to education because they belong to the weaker
section of the society.
Maya Angelou stated that “Each time a woman stands up for herself,
without knowing it, possibly without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”
Malala started this fight of education for herself, but today she is the voice
of every girl in the world, who are
deprived of education. The assassination attempt was made to silent Malala, but
this gave huge worldwide media coverage to her. Residents of Pakistan protested
against the shooting attempt after the attack. Her efforts were showing
positive results in Pakistan. Over 2 million people in Pakistan stood up to
protest and signed the petition for the Right to Education campaign, and it led
to the confirmation of the first, Right to Education bill in the country. The
politicians and leaders all over the world were criticizing the Taliban for the attack and Malala
Yousafzai was being praised for her strength
and bravery. Hillary Clinton said about Malala that, “very brave in standing
up for the rights of girls”. Madonna, the American singer, dedicated her song “Human
Nature ” to Malala at a concert in Los Angeles, and she even made a temporary
tattoo on her back. The attack made her more powerful and fearless. They wanted
to kill the fire of Malala but instead,
they fumed the spark in her to turn it into the fire.
Now, she was not only a name in Mingora, or Swat or Pakistan, now she is an
icon, a youth icon to inspire the whole world to fight with her.
The spokesperson of the
Pakistani Taliban, Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed the responsibility of the attack on
the Malala and stated that “she is the
symbol of infidels and obscenity”and also said that if she survived then the
group will target her again. They have many times, threatened Ziauddin to stop
her from opening up. They have even justified their act of attacking Malala as
a part of their religious scripture (Quran) which says, “people propagating
against Islam and Islamic forces would be killed, even if he or she is a child”.
If Ehsanullah’s statement was true, if she was against any religion, then the Islamic clerics of Pakistan wouldn’t have
issued a fatwa against the Taliban gunmen
who attacked Malala, including two of her classmates. Some were in favour of
Yousafzai and some pro-Taliban elements
branded her as an American Spy.
God helps those, who help
themselves, and Malala has proved this. On 15th October 2012, a former British Prime Minister
and UN special ambassador for Global Education, Gordon Brown visited her in the
hospital and launched a UN petition in her name, and said that he would hand over the petition
in November to President Zardari in
Pakistan. Three demands have been specified in the petition and they were:
·
Pakistan had to agree to a plan to deliver education for every
child.
·
All the countries in the world have to outlaw any discrimination
against girls.
·
And all the international organization has to ensure the world’s
61 million out-of-school children should receive education by the end of 2015.
These were some crucial steps
taken by the world known organizations for the rights and education of children,
particularly girls, from all over the world, due to her efforts. This girl
still continues to work tirelessly in developing a promising future of girls’
education and children’s rights all over the world. In her teenage itself, she
showed the courage to stand up and made the whole world realize the seriousness
of the massive problem that almost 61 million girls around the world don’t have
access to receive education and world leaders should take actions to solve it
out.
On her birthday that is on the 12th of July, 2013 she made a speech
at the UN and called for a worldwide access to education. This speech was her
first public speech after the shooting attack and the day was called ‘Malala
Day’. Her words in the speech are quoted as
“the terrorist thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but
nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died.
Strength, power and courage were born. I am not against anyone, neither I am here to
speak in terms of personal revenge against Taliban or any other terrorist
group. I am here to speak up for the right of education for every child. I want
education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all terrorists and
extremists”. And on 10th October
2014, this little ordinary school girl truly bagged the 2014 Nobel
Peace Award. She deserved that for her struggle against the suppression of
children and for their right to education. Malala became the youngest Nobel
Laureate as she got the award at the age of 17and second Pakistan Nobel Prize
winner. The young lady contributed her entire prize money to finance the
creation of a secondary school for girls
in Pakistan. On her 18th
birthday, she inaugurated a school near the Syrian Border at Bekka Valley,
Lebanon for the Syrian refugees. The school is being funded by the non-profit
Malala Fund.
She asked the world leaders to
“invest in books, not bullets”. In just a few
firm words she once again gave a very strong message to the whole world. Her
fight is not against terrorism but is for education. This young soul from the
Swat valley noticed and understood the root of the world terrorism, that is ignorance
and illiteracy. She pleaded the whole world to unite and provide the right to
education for all the young souls on the Earth
so that they wouldn’t be brainwashed to follow the evil path of terrorism.
Malala Yousafzai says, “One
child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world”. The humble
Pakistani girl, through her stand, took
the international attention towards the power of one child. A child could be
easily moulded just like a potter’s soil,
and the terrorists and extremists are moulding
these innocent souls with guns and bullets, in the name of Jihaad. There were
rejections, disapprovals, threats for her works and speeches, but she didn’t
stop. Her aim is to fight for every child in the world. There were disapprovals
for giving her the Nobel prize, Pakistan still is not willing to accept her,
and considered to be an American Spy, but she Proved them wrong.
Influence of Malala in our lives
Be a voice of
voiceless. Don’t kill your inner voice
“Never be
afraid to raise your voice for honesty
and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all
over the world… would do this, it would change the Earth” are beautiful
lines by William Faulkner. Malala’s story inspires every individual to express
their expressions. Faulkner, rightly said that if every individual would raise
their voices against injustice then it would bring the change in the Earth. Malala is a luminary for us, showing us that
our voices and beliefs matter even when the odds may be stacked against us.
Malala has empowered us to believe in our inner voice instead of killing it.
Today, it might be difficult today but tomorrow you will be proud too that you took a stand to raise your voice to lead the crowd. Only leaders have the
voices, followers will follow calmly.
Too many of
us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears…. By Les Brown.
If Malala
wouldn’t have taken the initiative to show the real picture of the terror-driven lands under extremists, then who
would have been bothered for helping those refugees and people living the
countries like Syria or Afghanistan. We
are blessed to live in safe and terror free places but it's difficult to feel the pain and agonies of the citizens
residing in the war-prone areas. She
raised her voice, she stood up, and that process leads her to achieve Nobel prize in the age of 16 years. Opportunities knock
the door for everyone, but only those taste the success who have the courage to
grab the opportunity. Her story inspires us to dare to dream. Raise your
voice because you really care about making a change and so that those without a
voice can be heard.
Confucius said,
“Words are the voice of the heart.”
Education
is important
Nelson Mandela
said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the
world.” Little Malala belongs to a country where being educated is a crime
for women, but she has so much craved for
education and learning that even in the warlike
situations she was more worried about her exams. The eagerness for education
made her the youth icon of the world, the youngest Nobel laureate.
We are
privileged to receive education very easily, but we don’t appreciate its
importance. People like Malala knows its value and understands the real meaning
of education. It cures the ignorance, illiteracy,and terrorism. Malala said, “Education
is the best weapon through which we can fight poverty, ignorance and terrorism.”
The kids in these regions are brainwashed and are moulded to follow the path of terrorism. The prime reason to ban
education in these areas by the extremists is to bring ignorance and to spread
terrorism. Education is the progressive discovery of your own ignorance.
She says, “I
truly believe the only way we can create global peace is through not only
educating our minds but our hearts and
our souls.”
And, One child,
one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Value Education.
Courage,
courage and courage
Malala Yousafzai
always stood up for what she believed in. When the extremists Taliban leaders
were praising women for dropping out of school, then this female was speaking
across Pakistan about the importance of education for women. She was
continuously receiving death threats from the militants but she never looked
back. Not even death could defeat her. It’s too easy to stand with the
crowd, it takes courage to stand alone. All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. Achieving
Nobel prize at the age of 17 when the whole world is watching you, is not
possible unless you are courageous to take the step. She faced resistance with
commitment and sacrifice, and her courage made the whole world realize the need
for the right to education for every child, particularly for those children
living in terrorists or extremists regions.
Age
or gender is no bar
10th October 2014,
in the grand auditorium, where the veterans in different fields from various
parts of the world are present to attend the 2014 Nobel prize announcements.
Among all the elderly and senior
personalities, she was looking like a small child. There were 278 nominations
for the Peace prize but she deserved to win it and shared it with Kailash
Satyarthi from India. She shared the award with a 63-year-old gentleman. When Malala gave her speech, all the
intellects eyes were on her to hear her views, and her speech gave gooseberry to every individual in the
auditorium. She became the youngest Nobel Laureate and second Pakistani to
receive the Nobel prize. She proved to the world that you can achieve
milestones at any age. Whether you are 63 or 16, it doesn’t matter, what matters are your deeds and efforts
to fulfil your dreams.
“I tell my story, not because
it is unique, but because it is not. It is the story of many girls.”
She said, “I had two
options.One was to remain silent and wait to be killed. And the second was to
speak up and then be killed. I chose the second one. I decided to speak up”.
Malala justifies the true meaning of her
name. She was named after a 19th-century
Afghan women freedom fighter Malalai, and deeds of Malala gave rebirth to the
Afghani freedom fighter. Her belief in the value
and equal education for both men and women became sole moto for her life. She
is that girl who proved to the world that age and sex are not the factors to
stop you to achieve your dreams. She is the girl of strength, she is Malala,
who proved them wrong!
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