Malala Yousafzai: A survivor
Malala Yousafzai was born July 12th 1997 in Swat valley, Pakistan (Bio). As a young child Malala had always had an affinity to learning and her school education, going as far as putting henna tattoos of chemical equations on her hands for fun (yousafzai 5).
When the Taliban first arrived in Swat Valley, many believed they were peaceful people, interested in protecting religious values (Stewart). As the years passed, they took control of Swat and banned girls from going to school. Malala says she never really knew how important school was until she had it taken away from her (Yousafzai 17). Despite the Taliban's strict rules Malala refused to stop her education. She began speaking out at the age of eleven (Gopal 1).
On October 9th 2012, Malala was shot in the head on her way home from school (Gopal 1). Malala made a good recovery and suffered no brain damage, although the left side of her face is paralyzed (bio).
The normal reaction to getting shot in the head would be to back down, but Malala did not react normally. After her attempted murder, Malala's story traveled across the world inspiring people every where. Instead of backing down, she used her fame to raise awareness of the struggle kids like her have to go through. Malala yousafzai became the youngest person to ever win the Nobel peace prize, getting the award in 2014 and the age of 17. She also published a autobiography, I AM MALALA, which has sold over 125,000 copies (Gopal 2). Malala has also spoken at the United Nations assembly and has has met with President Barack Obama personally(bio).
If one thing can be said about Malala Yousafzai, its that she is a survivor
Please visit the Malala fund, a charity Malala herself has made to raise awareness of the struggles people face because of terrorist groups and raises money to help kids get an education in rural areas of the world. http://www.malala.org/