Not A Unique Story But Many Girl’s Story

It was like every other day for Malala living in her hometown in Swat Valley, once a
vacation destination, until it was invaded by the Taliban who dominated much of northwestern
Pakistan. Basically the Taliban were a group of brutal and fundamentalist religious men, which
was led by Maulana Fazlullah from 2007. Many Taliban began imposing strict Islamic law by
destroying at least 400 schools, banning women from going to school and any active role in
society, and carrying out suicide bombings because all they wanted were for girls to not be more
powerful than a man.
Even though the Taliban were very dangerous, Malala was still determined to go to
school and with a firm belief in her right to an education she stood up to the Taliban. Her father
was always her number one supporter so with him alongside she knew she could have done it.
Malala stated “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” on Pakistani TV
which pissed the Taliban off and was ordered by the leader to kill her.
After a while, Malala started to blog anonymously on the Urdu language site of the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). She wrote about her and everyones’ life in the Swat
Valley under Taliban rule, and about her wanting to go to school. She used the name “Gul
Makai'' so the Taliban wouldn’t know her real one; Malala described being forced to stay at
home and questioned the motives of the Taliban. Malala was only 11 years old when she wrote
her first BBC diary entry. The blog heading was “I am afraid”, she portrayed her fear of a big
war in her beautiful Swat Valley and her bad dreams about being reluctant to go to school due to
the Taliban.
Malala was forced to leave her home and seek safety hundreds of miles away because she
was an internally displaced person who remained within their country's borders. She returned
after weeks of being away from Swat when tensions and violence eased and Malala once again
used the media to continue her public campaign for her right to go to school. Her voice became
stronger, and throughout the next three years, she and her dad became known all through
Pakistan for their assurance to give Pakistani young girls access to free quality education.
The Taliban, responding to an increasing backlash throughout Pakistan, agreed to a
cease-fire, they lifted the restriction against girls, and allowed them to attend school on the
condition that they wear burkas or dupattas. However, violence resurged only a few months later
and the Yousafzai family was forced to seek refuge outside of Swat until the Pakistani army was
able to push the Taliban out.
The New York Times reporter, Adam Ellick, worked with Yousafzai to make a
documentary, Class Dismissed, a 13-minute piece about the school shutdown. Ellick made a
second film with Malala, titled “A Schoolgirl’s Odyssey”. The New York Times posted both
films on their website. That summer she met with the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and
Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, and asked him to help with her effort to protect the education of
girls in Pakistan.
 With Malala’s continuing television appearances and coverage in the local and
international media, it had become apparent that she was the BBC’s young blogger. Once her
identity was known, she began to receive widespread recognition for her activism.
One day fifteen year old Malala was coming home from school on the school bus
accompanied by her friends who were talking about school work and their cute professor of
literature just like every other day. They speak really bad English down in Pakistan, one said “I
want ais-krim, it very much hawt”. Interrupted by two masked gunmen, said to be Taliban,
stopped and boarded the bus and demanded to know which girl was Malala Yousafzai. Her
friends around her looked towards Malala and the British girl said “Dis is hur right hiuh” which
made aware of who she was. The gunmen fired three shots at her, “OH MY GOD!” screamed a
lady in the highest pitch you can think of. One of the bullets entered and exited her head and
lodged in her shoulder. Malala was seriously wounded and the two other girls were also injured
in the attack. That same day, she was airlifted to a Pakistani military hospital in Peshawar and
four days later to an intensive care unit in Birmingham, England.
The incident elicited protests, and her cause was taken up around the world, including by
the UN special envoy for global education, Gordon Brown, who introduced a petition that called
for all children around the world to be back in school. That petition led to the ratification of
Pakistan’s first Right to Education bill. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari announced the
launch of a $10 million education fund in Malala’s honour. About the same time, the Malala
Fund was established by the Vital Voices Global Partnership to support education for all girls
around the world. Finally Malala’s and every girl’s problems in Pakistan were known all over the
world. The more the people donated to the Malala Fund, the more the girls around the globe
were getting help for an education.