This Malala Day, the global community came together to raise their voices for the rights of all young people to receive an education.
The annual awareness event was inspired by Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban while advocating for the right to go to school. She celebrates her birthday each year by addressing people worldwide, offering the message that “No student, anywhere, should ever be the target of conflict of violence.”
This year, she travelled to Nigeria to make her speech, to renew the call to bring back the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram last April. In her speech, she said:
“We will not be silent while our Sisters in Nigeria and around the world are targeted in this war on education. Together we are stronger than oppression. We are stronger than violence. We are stronger than fear. We have a right to an education and we will prevail. We will see the return of our innocent sisters in Nigeria, and that they and all children will be able to go to school. We are stronger than those who stand in our way. Stand with us, and together we will win.”
Hear more from her in this op-ed piece for the Washington Post: Helping girls worldwide requires a united stand.
“Malala Day is not my day,” she says on her site malala.org. “It is the day of every girl and every boy. It is a day when we come together to raise our voices, so that those without a voice can be heard.”
Want to get inspired to raise your voice to empower women globally?
The UN Global Education First Initiative was launched on Malala’s birthday in 2013. Watch the #StrongerThan video the initiative shared for Malala Day:
To learn more about what Malala has been able to accomplish with the power of her voice, check out this Huffington Post article: On Malala Day, Prepare To Be Wowed Again By Her 10 Greatest Contributions To Humaity. Did we mention she just turned 17 this week?
Happy Birthday, Malala Yousafai!
