On the We Day stage I shared the story of a young girl from Pakistan who spoke out about education and because she was so passionate and made her voice heard, she almost lost her life. But that did not stop her, she was so brave that after she recovered, she grew to be a leader – the loudest and most recognizable voice for education for children around the world. For me and so many young people, especially young girls, she is proof that you are never too young to change the world. Did I mention that she is only 16 years old and has been doing this since 10? If you do not already know who this inspiring teenager is, it is Malala Yousafzai.
This year, Malala joined Free The Children at the first We Day in the UK. My mom and I set our alarm clock for 4:30 in the morning here in Toronto so that we could watch on the livestream. Her speech was amazing and very personal. This was Free The Children’s Year of Education and Malala was there to represent hope, courage and inspiration. Malala has been an advocate for education since she was 10 years old and she has been writing and speaking out for the last 6 years. The Malala Fund was founded to make Malala’s voice even louder by bringing together people who share her vision to make education possible for the more than 57,000 children in the world who do not get to go to school. What the Malala Fund and Free The Children have in common is that they both work with people in the communities they are helping because they both believe that the most important and lasting change will come from within the community.
Now she can also say that she is contribuing in another way – building schools – literally. Malala and her father just finished up their Me To We trip in Kenya! Malala fights for education and bulding schools for a better world, and now, for the first time, Malala got to help build schools with her own hands. She helped build at Oleleshwa All-Girls’ Secondary School, in rural South Narok, where the majority of girls do not attend high school. She not only helped build it, but the Malala Fund has also made a special financial contribution for this project. After Oleleshwa is built, two hundred kids will be running into their new school, ready to learn.
She was led on the trip by the one and only, Craig Kielburger, who introduced her to classrooms and showed her around Kenya. When she went to schools, she had the chance to meet a group of girls from rural Kenyan communities about talk with them about the challenges in their communities such as lack of access to education, early marriage, poverty and child labour. After Craig went he said that “we are so grateful to have Malala here with us, we are so inspired by Malala’s compassion and leadership.” All this is very true, don’t you think?
Shiza Shahid, CEO of the Malala Fund also travelled to Kenya with Malala and though that, “We feel honoured to have laid the foundation of the first school that the Malala Fund is building in Africa with Free the Children,” Shiza said. “This is the beginning of a deep commitment to Africa, and a testament to our belief that educating the children of the world holds the key to spurring progress and countering violence.”
“I came to Africa to raise awareness about the 58 million children not in primary school who face numerous barriers to education,” Malala said. “I was particularly inspired to meet young girls in Kenya who are so passionate about getting an education, building their future and the future of their country.” I am sure that Malala was a big inspiration to all of the girls that she met in Kenya.
As you can see, Malala had an amazing time in Kenya! She built schools, met students, and really got even more inspired to do something, especially considering she was part of making Oleleshwa All-Girls Secondary school happen.
The next time I see Craig, I will ask him to tell me more about his time in Kenya with Malala. I promise that I’ll share it here when I do.
I wanted to close by sharing Malala’s empowering speech at We Day UK and my Malala monologue at We Day Minnesota.
Leave a Reply