There is a girl named Malala, she was named after Malalai of Maiwand, the woman Malala was named after was one of the greatest heroines of Afghanistan. She wanted girls to have an education, but the Taliban didn’t want women to attend school, only men. Malala was fourteen years old when she began speaking to the people of her town about how everyone should have an education. No one should be deprived of an education due to gender. On October 9, 2012 Malala was shot by the Taliban while she was heading home from school. She survived the life threatening injury and she continues to speak out about the importance of education for all people.
On December 10th she became the first Pashtun to win the Nobel Prize for her struggle against the suppression of children and fighting for the right of all children to have an education. Malala was willing to fight for her people and education instead of staying silent any longer. Malala went to school in Swat Valley, Pakistan. While she was attending, the Taliban took control of Swat Valley and banned women from going to school. The Taliban also took control of the towns belief system, for example, they did not allow women to show their identity by taking off their burkas.
Women were not allowed to be outside the house without their husbands. If the Taliban caught a girl going to school her parents would have to pay the consequence, which is being whipped in the middle of town or being killed. The beginning of her life was perfect; there was no Taliban searching for her or anyone in her town. She was the most intelligent woman in her class. When Malala was ten years old the Taliban started taking over her town. The Taliban leader, Fazlullah, began radio broadcasts, which had the people in her town listening to instruction on how they were to obey the Quran.
He called for an end to Televisions and other modern items, such as DVD’s and soon becoming more fanatical, by publicly humiliating people who did not obey the Quran law. For example: If a woman has another friend as a male and they are caught being together without her husband she would get whipped. In Pakistan only men are allowed to go to school, denying women the right to education. ever since Malala’s father went to school he knew he wanted to run his own. People thought he was crazy because not a lot of people in Swat Valley couldn’t afford to give away money to charity or just buying things in general.
Malala’s father owns a high school for boys which is called Khushal Public School. Since he own’s a high school Malala’s mother can finally for the first time could buy nice clothes and even send out for food to provide for the family. The mufti began paying too much attention to Malala’s father because they noticed there were girls coming in and out of the high school. The mufti in the Swat Valley approaches the woman who owns the school’s premises and is demanding that she cancel his lease. The owner refused, but the woman’s son alerts Ziauddin about the situation.
The elders of the community became angry that he refused to close his school. Although, all girls were banned for going to school. Malala is inspired to one day go back to school. One day Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban and she was in a life threatening situation. On October 9th when Malala was returning to school in a bus. The bus driver was forced to stop the bus because one the Taliban members forced the gun on to him and the rest of the members went on to the bus demanding the girls on the bus which one of them is Malala.
One of Malala’s friends stood up and pointed to Malala. Before one of the men pointed a gun to Malala she was able to crouch down to protect her head. The man shot her and the bullet goes through her head, but misses her brain and the bullet ends up shattering her jaw and collarbone. She was soon shipped to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital in Birmingham, UK. A week later she woke up with a tube in her neck to help her breath. The next day, the nurse handed her a pencil and paper so she could write her father number. Unfortunately Malala couldn’t write as well as she used to.
Then the her doctor, Dr. Javid brought her an alphabet chart so she could point at the letters to spell out what she wants to say. Whenever the nurses asked her questions Malala would blink once for no and blink twice for ves because she couldn’t speak at the time. Her injury caused her left side of her face to be paralyzed. Although, that doesn’t stop the fact that she survived a gunshot wound and continue to travel around the world giving speeches in other states letting them know how important it is for people to have an education.
