In
2012, a “mockingjay” entered the international stage. When the Taliban shot and
critically injured this 15-year old girl, her voice was immediately amplified
across the world as a powerful call for youth education. Her name is Malala
Yousafzai. One afternoon, I was sitting in my room, surrounded by recent magazine
clippings of Malala, when she paid me a visit. As if her passion and strong
will had risen out of all of the articles, I envisioned her spirit standing in
front of me, determinedly sharing her life’s message. Here is our interview.
Me: Malala, you’ve received the Noble Peace
Prize, met with Obama, the Queen of England, and are talked about throughout
the world. How does it feel to be looked up to by so many girls & children
around the world?
Malala: It’s a real honor, but a strange
feeling for me, because I’m really just like all of you. Even after being shot
by the Taliban, I am still the same girl I was before; a teenager from Pakistan
that wanted to go to school to be with her friends and receive an education.
Me: Are you scared of being
targeted by the Taliban again?
Malala: Now, I only desire for all youth,
even the children of the Taliban to have equal opportunities & the right to
education. So you can say that, even though my view has not changed, I am
thankful as the Taliban boy that shot me raised my voice, which is only one of
the many for unprejudiced education, to the international community.
Me: What motivates you to continually speak
out on human rights?
Malala: Ever since I was young, my dad has
always encouraged me to speak out about my rights. I’m sure all of you, even as
Americans, learn one key thing from our parents. Mine was that I had the right
to be educated, and to have as many opportunities as my two younger brothers
did. When I began blogging for the BBC Urdu, I was determined to receive an
education despite all of the violence that surrounded me, and that desire has
been with me even after I was shot. Now, I am receiving an excellent education
in the United Kingdom, but whenever I think that another girl or another boy
may be suffering from the same unequal opportunities I faced, I am filled with
a burning desire to help them, and to make their voice heard to the
international community.
Me: Do you have any advice for how members of
the Saint Francis High school community can work to make a change for girls’
and boys’ education?
Malala: I greatly admire the environment in
which many of you have grown and received an education. But let me ask you
this: what are your plans for the future? My dream is for all children to be
able to ask themselves that question without criticism or attack. If you have
school clubs that allow you to stand up & speak out on the fight for
children’s rights, join them to strengthen the campaign for equal education of
all children. One child, one teacher, one pen, one paper can change the world.
If we really want world peace, education will spark the revolution.
With
her last words ringing in the air, Malala’s spirit faded away from my room. But
where she had just been standing, I could still sense a beacon of life, and I
felt the intensity of her life’s dream welling up inside of me. Seeing in
person a teenager, just like us, that had changed the world, I thought she had
the power to make anyone see beyond the well.
