Malala Yousafzai (ages 0-9)
Malala was born on July 12th, 1997 (sixteen years old). She lived in Mingora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. As early as 2008, Malala started speaking up about the Taliban taking away rights for girls to become educated. But before I go on about Malala, I need to tell you how she grew up as a Pakistani girl, right from her first day of birth. Malala's Father and Mother couldn't afford to give birth to Malala in a hospital. Malala wasn't born a boy either. Usually most fathers would be sad to have a daughter and not a son. But that didn't matter to Ziaudden ( Malala's Father). In fact, he was even quite proud that he and his wife had a child at all, as their first child was stillborn. When Ziaudden first saw Malala with his own eyes, he right away decided that his daughter's name would be Malala. Malala was named after Malalai of Maiwand, a girl who inspired the Afghan army to defeat the British in 1880 in one of biggest battles of the second Anglo- Afghan war. Malala's grandfather didn't like the name "Malala" because the name meant grief stricken, also known as sadness. However, her name was not changed. During the first couple of years of Malala's childhood, her family was very poor. At the time, her family was living in a rundown shack near a school where her father first taught. There were no washrooms nor other well needed facilities in the home. However, since it was close to her father's school, it was fun to go to the school to explore different classrooms and teachers. While Ziaudden was out of the house teaching and doing other hobbies, Malala's mother was at home with Malala and her two younger brothers. Malala was two years older than Khushal and five years older than her youngest brother, Atal. Malala admitted that she and Khushal fought each other regularly, but they also played together. He was good company for Malala. As Malala was growing older, she attended her fathers school. She enjoyed learning and comparing marks with her close friends. Malala agreed that lots of her friends including herself were quite bright in school and were very committed to their education. Also during this time, Malala started public speaking about children's education, just like her father. But despite this being an amazing experience for Malala, the Tailiban imposed many restrictions such as the closure of schools. They were willing to get rid of women's education no matter what, even if it ment risking Malala's life. |
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