Unbreakable Spirit: Challenges and Achievements of Malala Yousafzai

This is a 5-paragraph essay about Malala, where we will briefly explore her extraordinary courage, inspiring advocacy for education, and the global impact of her unwavering determination.

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12th, 1997 in Mingora, which happens to be the largest city in the Swat Valley. Malala is the daughter of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Province Yousafzai. She has two brothers, Atal and Khushal. Even at a very young age, Malala has always had a thirst for knowledge. Her father was a devoted education advocate who ran a learning institution in Mingora. She attended the school her father ran, soaking up as much knowledge as possible.

In the year 2007, the Taliban came into their community when she was just 10 years old. The Taliban took over the Swat Valley and became the biggest dominant group in the northwestern parts of Pakistan. The Taliban didn’t allow any cultural activities like dancing and even watching television. Around Pakistan, suicide attacks were normalized, for the group used terror to enforce their laws. Around 400 schools were destroyed by the end of 2008. With her father’s support, Malala quickly became a critic of their ways. Malala appeared on Pakistani television saying, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” In early 2009, on the Urdu language site of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Malala began to blog secretly, talking about the Taliban. She wrote about how horrible life was in Swat Valley while the Taliban was there. At 11 years old, she made her first BBC blog. She tilted it, “I am afraid.”

As her voice became increasingly louder, her father and herself became known throughout Pakistan. She was nominated for the Children’s Peace Prize in 2011 for her active support in basic rights. That same year, she was awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize, but not everyone supported her big and important role. Malala writes, “On the morning of October 9, 2012, on my way home from school, a masked gunman boarded my school bus and asked, “Who is Malala?” He shot me on the left side of my head. I woke up 10 days later in a hospital in Birmingham, England.” Once in England, Malala was immediately taken out of a medically induced coma. Even though she required many surgeries, including intensive repair of a facial nerve to fix the paralyzed side of her face, she suffered no brain damage from the shooting. After weeks of treatment and therapy, in March 2013, Malala was soon able to start classes in a school in Birmingham.

July 12, 2013, Malala spoke in the United Nations. Later on in that year, she published her very first book, an autobiography titled,” I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot By the Taliban.” On the day of October 10, 2013, the European Parliament presented Malala with the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Through the Malala Fund, the organization she co-founded with her father, Malala went to to Kenya to meet young female students, Jordan to meet Syrian refugees, and finally, to northern Nigeria for her 17th birthday. She spoke out of the abducted girls who were kidnapped earlier that year by Boko Haram, a terrorist group that, like the Taliban, attempts to prevent girls from going to school in Nigeria. In October 2014, Kailash Satyarthi, Indian children’s rights activist, along with Malala, received the Nobel Peace Prize. Taking the award, Malala said, “This award is not just for me. It is for those forgotten children who want an education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for the voiceless children who want change.”

As of now, the Malala Fund has grown to become an organization that, through education, allows girls around the world to achieve their potential and to have a voice. The Malala Fund has helped girls get eductations in 6 different countries, working with international leaders. Malala is currently in Birmingham as an active voice of education. Malala Yousafzai is still a very passionate, strong advocate for the right of education. Every day, Malala is helping girls to become strong leaders, role models, and voices in their community.