This week, something wonderful made its way into national news; one of my heroes (or she-roes, as I occasionally like to call them), Malala Yousafzai, was finally delivered some justice from the 2012 attack that brought her to the forefront of the international women and children’s education movement. On Sept. 12 CNN reported that all of her attackers were arrested at last.
For those who are unaware of what transpired, allow me to summarize: Malala attended a school for girls (founded by her father) in her home of Mingora, Pakistan. Once a fruitful spot for tourism, this city’s prosperity gradually declined due to the increasing control of the Taliban. At the time, the Taliban was constantly terrorizing girls’ schools. At the young age of eleven, Malala gave her first speech, imploring, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” Less than a year later, Malala posed online as a BBC blogger to let the the world know how the Taliban was taking over and denying the education of young girls.
When Malala’s identity from the blog was revealed, she immediately became a target of assassination. On the morning of Oct. 9, 2012, members of the Taliban stopped the bus headed to Malala’s school. One man entered and demanded to know where Malala was. The other girls on the bus looked in her direction, and the man shot fifteen-year-old Malala in the head. She survived miraculously, and soon after her recovery, her role as a women’s and children’s education activist began.
With the full knowledge that she could be targeted again any day, she never gives up what she started before she was even a teenager. She published her autobiography, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban in October 2013, a year after the attack. Malala has been nominated for multiple national activism awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize. She has also developed her own organizations. Learn more at Malala.org and TheMalalaProject.org.
I found it difficult to relate this topic to current happenings at Ohio University. However, when I read of the capture of Malala’s attackers, I just had to share her story. She is the epitome of what I want this column to be about. With Malala’s everyday fight in mind, let me say this: What I love about our campus in relation to this issue is that everyone truly does have equal opportunity. Just in the past couple of weeks, I have discovered countless organizations and honor societies for any student on campus from any background or anywhere in the world.
From my own experience, I know that education is the most valuable thing that can be acquired. My education has always been of primary importance to me. Education does more than enrich your mind and future; it enriches understanding, compassion and the drive to be something more.
Like Malala says, “Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”
jw719111@ohio.edu
