1. She survived gunshots
Malala Yousafzai was always a leader and had it in her since she was young. She was shot in the head and in her neck by the Taliban in the Swat Valley of Pakistan when she was on a bus to school. The man shot her because she was rooting for women’s right to education. Talibanis believe that women don’t hold the right to education and Malala was going against them. She was just 15 years old but was extremely lucky that she outlived those gun shots.
2. She is highly educated
After coming from all those hardships and tough times, Malala has only managed to become stronger in order to overcome her fears in a better way. Many may surmise her as a small town girl but she already has two honorary degrees. One is the Masters in Arts degree from University of Edinburg and the other is the Doctor of Civil Law from University of King’s college.
3. She is fearless
When Malala Yousafzai appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show, she elucidated how she has moved on from the time when she almost got killed when Taliban’s attempted assassination of her failed. “My weakness, my fear, and my hopelessness died on that day,” she said
4. She has met everyone!
Due to her immense activism, she attracted prominence and was respected by some of the world’s most well-known and powerful personalities who even welcomed her to have hearty chat. She has greeted them all such as Ellen DeGeneres, David Beckham, Queen of England, President Barack Obama and hell, she has even Face Timed Justin Bieber!
5. Her name was featured in Time Magazine!
She gained so much popularity and respect for her good deeds and a plain heart, that her name spread throughout the world. And yes, the legendary Time Magazine thought it would do justice to Malala Yousafzai if her name was featured in the world’s 100 most influential people’s list in the year 2013.
6. She gave a speech at the United Nations!
Many of us spend our teenage lives on our computer games, high schools and whatnot. But, Malala took her teenage years to a whole new level and gave a speech at the United nations on her 16th birthday! Imagine your speech being broadcasted in the entire wold and it’s your birthday too! The United nations were so feted to have her at the ceremony that they decided to call that day as ‘Malala Day’!
7. She had it in her since the beginning!
Along with the immense activism, she’s a writer too! At the unimpeachable age of just 12 years, she penned down a blog for the BBC under a false identity explaining how the life was under the control of Taliban and the difficulties people faced.
8. She wrote a book too!
She has been through a lot and it is a lot of information, thoughts and memories to store in one’s mind. It must be hard to be able to live peacefully by keeping all those flashbacks in the memory! So, she has emptied her thoughts in her own book which she named ‘I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban’. The book went on to become the No.1 seller on Amazon.
9. Not everyone loves her.
She might be doing the noblest of things in this world but not all love her. There are many haters who are not Taliban but few common people in Pakistan who defy her ideas and appraisals of the western countries. Pakistan being her home country didn’t even acknowledge ‘Malala Day’ when the U.N.’s celebrated Malala’s birthday and her attainments in activism.
10. Malala Yousafzai has won multitudinous awards!
Sundry Peace awards have been awarded to her for her extreme activism and valour for fighting for the rights of women and children’s education. She has even won the greatest award ‘The Nobel Peace Prize’ for bravery in fighting for children and women’s right to education in the year 2014.
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