Blog Entry #9

             This past week a young girl, Malala Yousafzai, was able to return home after being shot in the head by the Taliban. This horrifying event took place all because Malala is an activist for girls to have a right to their education. The Taliban targeted this young lady as she was on the bus ride back to her home in Swat Valley. It is clear that their intentions were to kill her but her father spoke up after the incident saying, “But she fell temporarily. She will rise again. She will stand again.” Thankfully her father, Ziaudding Yousafzai, was absolutely right. Though she was described as being in extremely grave condition, after being airlifted to Britain to receive treatment for her injuries the doctors there described her condition as “optimal”.  

                On Thursday Malala’s mother, father, and her two younger brothers arrived in Birmingham to see her for the first time since she had been airlifted out. They were elated to see her, and her father states to reporters that he believes her recovery to be a miracle.

                Malala has taken on the Taliban and their controlling ways since she was on eleven years old. It was “when the Islamabad government had effectively ceded control of the Swat Valley, where she lives, to the militants” that she began to stand up for what she believes rightly belongs to her and her people. It is Malala’s bravery and strength to stand up for what she believes in that has “become a symbol of resistance against the Taliban.” The area in which all of this is taking place is a region that “has been one of the Taliban’s main strongholds in Pakistan.”

                When reading this article it brought me back to those first few weeks of class. We learned that in order to get things done we must “start a movement” and Malala has done exactly that. Even though she has had to face hardships because of her beliefs she refuses to give up or back down.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/world/asia/malala-yousafzai-is-recoving-at-encouraging-speed-father-says.html?ref=world&_r=0

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/10/15/162928977/malala-15-year-old-pakistani-girl-shot-by-taliban-airlifted-to-britain

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/25/14694202-pakistani-girl-shot-by-taliban-reunited-with-family?lite

10/26/12 11:17 AM