Teen Activists: Great Examples of Youth Bravery

There are innumerable teen activists in the world. Some are famous. Others - unknown. Notwithstanding, they all work to make the world a better place. Three activists are extremely prominent. These three are Malala Yousafzai on education, Alex Lin on e-waste, and Iqbal Masih on child labor. They all worked hard to attempt to meet their goals.

Malala Yousafzai, a 20-year old, from Pakistan is a really courageous teen activist. When the school Malala attended closed, and the Taliban took over her country, Malala's activism began. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, is a Pakistani educator, and he would teach Malala what she needed to know. Malala started to make local speeches about women's education rights, and this grew to worldwide. Pakistan's did not like this, so they took matters into their own hands. The Pakistan had much power. Girls feared to go to school because of them. Suddenly, while Malala was on a bus home, two gunmen attempted to shoot and kill her. The gunmen shot her once, and luckily, she lived. She had been shot on the side of the head, going into the neck, but it didn't injure her brain. Malala was rushed to the hospital. She was in a coma with a 70% chance to live. Thankfully, she survived and kept speaking up for women's education rights. This proves her bravery.

Alex Lin, born in Westerly, Rhode Island, is a boy who wants to ban electronic garbage. Electronic garbage-- or e-waste is the fastest growing part of America's trash. He wants to do this because e-waste has hazardous chemicals like lead, mercury, and cadmium. These can cause brain damage, hurt the immune system, or even give you cancer. When Alex was a child, he read the newspaper. One day, it talked about the e-waste problem. Alex said, “It [the newspaper] alerted me to the e-waste problem, and warned me of an e-waste tsunami to come.” Alex Lin and some of his classmates were in 5th grade when they started to reuse e-waste. It really helped because in 2007, Americans threw away 112,000 computers DAILY and only 18% of computers and TVs were reused. Alex Lin and his friends believed so strongly in their cause that they collected two full truckloads of e-waste in one day! Alex has also tried to ban e-waste worldwide, but he failed. He slowly gets states to ban e-waste. So far, he has had 20 states agreeing to ban e-waste. He has also won many awards such as the first place award at the Community Problem Solving Competition, the third place award in Volvo Adventure, and the gold medal at the Christopher Columbus Awards. Alex is partnered with Westerly Innovations Network (W.I.N.), and they have saved thousands of pounds of e-waste together. When people trash e-waste, the environment suffers greatly. Alex Lin worked hard to meet his goal and has recycled 300,000+ lbs of e-waste.

Iqbal Masih is against child labor. When he was a small child his father left, and his mother, Inayat Masih, took a loan of 500 rupees or $7.47 in USA money in Iqbal's name. This meant he had to pay it back. So, at age 5 or 6, Iqbal had to work at a carpet factory for 16 hours a day, 6 days a week, to pay off the debt. The punishments at the carpet factory were severe. They were starvation and beating. While he was working, the owner of the carpet factory tied a boy by his feet to a fan because the boy had the fever. Iqbal then realized he needed to act. At age 6, Iqbal planned an escape. When Iqbal successfully escaped, he went to a local police station and told the police of the carpet factory and its punishments. Unfortunately, the officer wanted the bounty for returning workers, and he returned Iqbal to the factory, resulting in punishments. But Iqbal never gave up hope. Later in his life, he was set free. He started to make speeches against child labor, and he gave other slaves courage to escape. Iqbal kept his dream of becoming a lawyer so he could liberate slaves, but he needed to do the activism part first. Many carpet companies lost workers due to Iqbal’s speeches. With that, Iqbal brought 3,000+ slaves home. He became an icon for children unable to escape. Iqbal insisted his mission was more important than his life. Then, on April 16, 1995, Iqbal was killed at age 13. No one knows if it was a murder or an accident, but most thought murder. Some people think the assassin was a heroin addict or a person from the carpet mafia, but a farmer named Ashraf Hero was falsely accused of Iqbal's murder. Before his death, Iqbal visited a 5th-grade class. When the students heard what happened, they started a fund, and those students will never stop trying to complete Iqbal’s cause.

In conclusion, you can see these three worked very hard towards their goals. Malala got shot but continues to protest, Alex’s idea was rejected again and again yet he still tried, and Iqbal died trying, but have others stepping in to support him. Think. If you were an activist and you received death threats or try so hard but just keep failing, would you accept the risks like Malala? Would you try harder and harder every time like Alex? Would you sacrifice yourself for your cause like Iqbal? These three did. Would you be brave enough to be an activist faced with these problems?