By Emmanuel Ojeifo
“The Taliban tried to kill her for
going to school; they only made her stronger. Her name is Malala… the bravest
girl in the world.” – CNN commercial (Thursday, October 10, 2013)
In a world full of so much bad news,
here is an absolutely uplifting story that should be told and re-told to every
generation of young people. If you haven’t heard of Malala Yousafzai, take a
moment now to familiarise yourself. Malala is a Pakistani teenager who escaped
death at the hands of a Taliban soldier for her courage, eloquence and
outspoken stance on education and the protection of women and children’s rights.
If the Taliban soldier who shot her in the head wanted to silence her, he
failed woefully. Rather than silence her, he transposed her to global stardom.
The story of the 16-year-old Malala is
one of the most remarkable stories of human survival in the face of adversity.
If she had won the Nobel Peace Prize this year (for which she was
overwhelmingly nominated), it would have gone a long way to confirm her as a
global heroine and an inspiration for millions of children who are passionate
about their desire to go to school.
In any case, even without winning the
prestigious prize, Malala remains a beacon of hope and a challenge for a
generation of young people who are steeped in hopelessness and waiting for
outside help when they can unleash their potentials to create a decent future
for themselves and for others.
On October 10, 2012, Malala was in
the back of an open truck on her way home from school with other students when
a Taliban gunman asked for her name and shot her in the head. The bullet exited
her brain, but affected her facials. Many of those who heard the story of what
had happened felt that she would die. The thought of that eloquent spirit
unable to speak or think or hear was unbearable.
But she didn’t die. In the
days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical
condition, but later her condition improved for her to be flown from Pakistan
to Britain. When she awoke, she found herself in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in
Birmingham. Her doctor said she never cried, not once. The eloquence came back,
reborn fearlessly in one who had cheated death.
Since then, Malala has become a global
celebrity, going round the world with her gospel of gender equality and
education. In January this year, Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international
satellite radio acclaimed Malala as “the most famous teenager in the world.”
Using the slogan, “I am Malala,” UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon
Brown, launched a UN petition demanding that all children worldwide be in
school by the end of 2015, a petition which helped lead to the ratification of
Pakistan’s first Right to Education Bill.
Her public profile rose even further
when she was awarded Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize in December
2012. In April 29, 2013 edition of Time magazine, Yousafzai was featured on the
magazine’s front cover and as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in the
World.”
On July 12, 2013, on her 16th
birthday, Malala spoke at the UN calling for worldwide access to education. The
UN dubbed the event “Malala Day.” It was her first public speech since the
attack, leading the first ever youth takeover of the UN, with an audience of
over 500 young education advocates from around the world. In her speech, Malala
impressed everyone when she spoke about her inner conviction and burning
passion for reform.
“The terrorists thought they would
change my aims and stop my ambitions,” she said, “but nothing changed in my
life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and
courage were born. I am not against anyone, neither am I here to speak in terms
of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorist group. I’m here
to speak up for the right of education for every child. I want education for
the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all terrorists and extremists.”
Interestingly, even before the
Taliban thugs bungled an assassination attempt last year, she was a towering
presence in Pakistan. Since she was 12 she has been a blogger. First she
blogged anonymously for the BBC, describing the horrors of life under the
Taliban, then she went public with her campaign to get more girls into school.
In a conservative country such as Pakistan, she risked not only death at the
hands of the terrorists, but also the anger and condemnation of a patriarchal
society which prefers its women uneducated and in the kitchen.
Throughout her public
expeditions, Malala has articulated her message with impressive clarity and
simplicity, free of the well-meaning thrash that so often passes for advocacy
in today’s world. A few weeks ago, Malala brought her wisdom to New York City
and appeared on The Daily Show to promote her new memoir, I am Malala: The Girl
Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban.
In the talk show,
Malala shared her story, her future and her dreams. Every young person should
try to watch the entire cut of Malala’s interview, but this quote in particular
is worth being highlighted. In response to host Jon Stewart’s question on how
she felt when she found out that the Taliban had made her a target, she had
this to say – a remark that not only left Stewart completely speechless, but
also earned her a standing ovation.
“I started thinking about
that, and I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me.
But then I said, ‘If he comes, what would you do Malala?’ then I would reply to
myself, ‘Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.’ But then I said, ‘If you hit a
Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the
Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must
fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.’
Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that ‘I even want
education for your children as well.’ And I will tell him, ‘That’s what I want
to tell you, now do what you want.’” Immediately, her inspiring comments went
viral on the Internet, with one of the interview clips reaching over 700,000
hits in less than 24 hours.
This is a remarkable story of
courage and heroism in a world where millions of young people are afraid to
take a stand for what they believe to be right. Through her extraordinary
heroism, Malala is teaching the world that bravery is not about age or size,
but about the education of the human spirit. In a country like Nigeria where
the educational sector is in coma and where millions of young graduates are
clueless and unemployable, the heroic example of Malala has humbled our pride
by teaching us that the best revolutions in history are not those started with
guns and armies but with a tiny voice of courage which echoes in the depths of
the human spirit.
Now, even if Malala never ever wins the Nobel Prize, by being
so extraordinary, in her courage and her eloquence, this 16-year-old has won
the hearts of millions of people world over. No prize could be greater than
this.
• Ojeifo is a Catholic priest of the
Archdiocese of Abuja, Nigeria.
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