Artigenda
Malala Day
When: annually, July 12.
It is not often that someone who is still alive and not so old is honoured with a day of their own. That is, a day created to dwell on that person and all that person stands for. In the case of Malala Yousafzai (July 12, 1997), this is the case.
Gul Makai
Malala Yousafzai we know as Malala. She gained fame when she started keeping a weblog under the name Gul Makai (Cornflower) on the BBC website at an early age (from 2009). In it, she recounted the daily struggles she faced as a girl in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. This area, also shortened to Swat, is located in the north-west of the country. When the Taliban took control of much of the area in 2008, the Pakistani army intervened. A military operation followed, after which the situation was restored. Meanwhile, Malala continued her activities. When it became clear who she was, the Taliban targeted her. That was after her nomination for the International Children’s Prize from Kids Rights. Domestically, she won a similar award, the National Youth Peace Prize. This prize would later be renamed the National Malala Peace Prize.
On October 9, 2012, things went wrong. The bus she was in on her way home from school was taken under fire by a Taliban fighter and she was hit in her head and neck. Although the bullet in her head could be removed, further specialist treatment was necessary. She received that, having been transferred to England on 15 October. This immediately protected her in Birmingham hospital. from further attacks, which the Taliban had threatened. It was only in January 2013 that she was discharged from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Yet new treatments were necessary thereafter (February 2013).
Nobel Prize
The United Nations declared a Malala Day back in 2012. That was on November 10. By doing so, it wanted to draw attention to children who are denied education around the world. A petition to award her the Nobel Peace Prize was then signed by thousands a year later. She was awarded that prize, too, in 2014. Not before there would be a recurring Malala Day, namely on her birthday: July 12.
While studying at Oxford University, she remained active in bringing about change in the field of poverty alleviation, fighting child marriage, and gender discrimination and continued to speak out against war. She also founded the Malala Fund. She graduated from the university in 2020.
Links
Pictured: Malala’s shawl, on display at the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm (photo: Wikimedia Commons).
