February 11, 2013
The Amazing Malala Makes Her First Video Statement
From the Ms. blog comes this brief article about the recently released 45-second video clip made by Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani girl who, as an outspoken advocate for girls’ education, defied the Taliban by working for female equality. This past October, an assassin, intent on silencing her voice permanently, boarded her school bus and shot her in the head. Amazingly, she survived, and after months of surgeries and other specialized treatments in the UK (including, most recently, skull reconstruction), she continues to recover. Malala says she believes that in answer to prayers from people all over the world, God has given her a second life—a new life in which she is again determined to serve and work for change so that “every girl, every child,” can be educated. Also be sure to scroll down and read the comments included with the Ms. blog piece, which tell of others who are speaking out for female equality through the Afghan Women’s Writing Project.
For more about Malala, see this article from TruthDig, which named her a “truthdigger of the week” last month. I first learned about Malala several years ago when I watched the New York Times documentary, Class Dismissed: The Death of Female Education. She was 11-years-old then, and I was deeply moved by her winsomeness, intelligence, love of learning, and dedication to girls’ education at a time when the brutal Taliban had taken over the Swat Valley of Pakistan and destroyed over two hundred schools for girls and closed any that were not destroyed. I have watched that documentary several times and am touched and inspired every time. I think you will be, too. It’s worth taking time to view.
