This post is about someone I look up to, Ms. Malala Yousafzai. She is a Pakistani activist for female education, and a total badass! To add to the awesomeness she also happens to be youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. Just recently Malala Yousafzai has added another merit to her growing list: honorary citizenship of Canada. At a very young age of just 19, she is only one of six to have received this award, another being Nelson Mandela.
Malala Yousafzai receiving honorary citizenship of Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Parliament Hill in Ottowa on Wednesday, April 12.
Photo credit: Adrian Wyld, The Canadian Press
A strong woman role model for many femmes in the world, Malala Yousfzai to this day is well known for her contributions to human rights advocacy in education. Especially for women in her native place Swat Valley, northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had on periodically banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has since exponentially grown into an international movement.
Yousafzai’s accomplishments begin with women empowerment, where education is primary tool. She stands strongly for women’s literacy and education which enables them to have opinions on conditions and aspects in life. In the beginning, my obsession was limited to written literature to gain understanding of her functionalities, but recently I had attended one of her talk shows, and best way to describe her persona would be “simple, yet so powerful.” Her most remarkable trait I noticed at her talk show was her humbleness, yet fierceness. She is a constant reminder to women out there that their opinion matters, and moreover, they matter too.
Lastly, to understand how the sensation brewed to reality, Yousafzai’s memoir ‘I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban’ takes us through her life journey and work. Books can simulate, or walk you through, an imaginative environment of your intellectual perceive, however it isn’t remotely close to the reality. But the remarkable descriptiveness used in the book had given me fair share of jitters in many instances. For individuals who don’t know the circumstances for women of Pakistani society and culture, and even those who do and want to hear a first hand experience, the book is highly recommended.
Editor’s note:
The book was adapted into a documentary, called “He Named Me Malala,” in 2015. Check out the trailer!
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