If the name Malala Yosafzai doesn’t ring any bells, she’s the young Pakistani girl who survived gunshots in the head fired by Pakistani Talibans.
Just recently, Malala was at Harvard University to accept the 2013 Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award!
Awarded by Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, she was pleased to welcome Malala because of their shared interest in education.
Present at the event was the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, who paid a special tribute to Malala in a message:
“Your courage is sending a strong message to women to stand up for their rights, which constitutes a precondition for peace”.
Malala spoke about how girls in her home region, Swat valley, was discouraged from going to school by snatching pens from their hands. Students would even go as far as to hiding books under their shawls so people wouldn’t know they were going to school.
“The so-called Taliban were afraid of women’s power and were afraid of the power of education.
During her speech, Malala also recalled waking up in a hospital in Britain, where she was taken to for emergency treatment after her assassination attempt in Pakistan.
“And when I was in Birmingham, I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t know where my parents are, I didn’t know who has shot me and I had no idea what was happening,” she said. “But I thank God that I’m alive.”
Malala, you’re truly a hero in our eyes and we can’t help but praise you for all things you’ve achieved.
[Source]
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