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World Food Programme Solutions for 2021

World Food Programme Solutions for 2021
A United Nations General Assembly meeting took place on December 4, 2020. Its primary focus concerned the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic as precautionary measures continued and vaccines emerged. With 2020 nearly over, the resounding political, social and economic effects of the pandemic began to materialize. But all did not disappear despite the grim outlook. A handful of humanitarian organizations are busy strategizing solutions for 2021.

Closing 2020

The last few months of 2020 showed the world that the pandemic is just the beginning. The disease itself constitutes merely one of a myriad of societal problems that a pandemic can bring. COVID-19 has had an unpredictable ripple effect. PPE loans in the United States, damaged food supply chains in Africa and the closings of borders all over the world demonstrate the pandemic’s extent.

Earlier in December 2020, before the General Assembly meeting, the UN estimated that the pandemic, the resulting economic impact and the concurrent precautionary and protective measures that governments were taking had already caused a 40% rise in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance. What may be the most evident incoming challenge is global famine. David Beasley, chief of the World Food Programme (WFP), warned that famines “of biblical proportions” are imminent for dozens of countries.

2021 Predictions

David Beasley spoke at length at the General Assembly meeting. His prediction for a catastrophe in 2021 made headlines and effectively set the tone for the entirety of the 193-nation conference. The upcoming COVID-19 vaccines constituted a positive note, though greater concerns regarding distribution overshadowed them. Speakers at the meeting warned against a stampede for vaccines that could result in wealthier countries crushing others in the race to eradicate COVID-19. While the pandemic is global, the UN fears that the fight against it may become individualistic and needlessly competitive.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, echoed fears of the COVID-19 vaccine competition. He called for $4.3 billion USD to go into a global vaccine-sharing program, saying “solutions must be shared equitably as global public goods.”

Solutions for 2021

Despite the dire circumstances, Beasley and his organization have the leverage to play a crucial role in manifesting solutions for 2021. The World Food Programme works as more than just an international food bank: it enjoys the global spotlight after winning the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for “bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”

The achievements that landed the World Food Programme this coveted prize also provided some positivity at the December conference. The General Assembly served as the WFP’s proverbial megaphone to world leaders. Thanks to the publicity surrounding the meeting, the WFP could grab the world’s attention.

As COVID-19 continues to rise and economies across the world take a resounding hit, humanitarian budgets stretching thin. Low- and middle-income countries particularly suffer. Beasley predicts that the WFP needs $15 billion in 2021 to address the global famine conditions that the pandemic has caused. Beasley says that the inability to meet leaders or address parliaments in person may hinder fundraising efforts. It will be difficult to sensitize those in charge of financial allocations.

Nonetheless, the World Food Programme and similar organizations are working tirelessly to raise money and create frameworks for solutions to the pandemic and its concurrent issues. Events as routine as a UN General Assembly meeting have provided the podia necessary for titans of humanitarian aid to make their causes known. With any luck, their solutions for 2021 will keep millions afloat.

– Stirling MacDougall
Photo: Flickr

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Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes On Love

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes On LoveMartin Luther King Jr. was a significant voice during the American civil rights movement, where he fought for equal rights for all. Martin Luther King Jr.’s quotes on love are filled with humility, courage, compassion and kindness. King continues to inspire people today and will always be remembered for what he stood for.

In 1948, Dr. King earned his sociology degree at Morehouse College. While completing his degree, King met Benjamin E Mays, the president of the college who greatly influenced his spiritual growth. May was a strong advocate for racial equality and believed that King should view Christianity as a force for change in society. Therefore, King applied this to his mission of ending segregation in the south. Through his speeches, King would highlight the importance of spreading love and kindness.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Love

  1. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”In King’s 1957 speech called “Loving Your Enemies”, he explains that once people understand that there is good in those who do evil and evil in those who are good, they are less likely to hate their enemies. King goes on to explain that hating your enemy will only hurt and burden our souls. However, a better solution would be to have love and compassion for our enemies.
  2. “A man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”In King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, King accepted the award for his nonviolence resistance to racial prejudice in America. In his speech, King explains that in order to achieve peace people must be willing to change their ways. Therefore, revenge, aggression and retaliation is an ineffective method that only fuels hate. In addition, King mentions he accepts this award on behalf of all the men who love peace and brotherhood.
  3.  “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”From King’s 1957 speech “Loving your enemies”, King explains the importance of forgiveness and how it is the only way we learn to love our enemies.
  4. “The beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.”In King’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, King believes that nothing compares to unity and harmony among people.
  5. “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic.”From a 1967 speech called “Where Do We Go from Here?” delivered at the annual convention of the Sothern Christian Leadership Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. King explains that power implemented the right way could bring on justice, however when not could cause destruction.
  6. “In some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested along with others for protesting the injustice against blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. While in jail, King wrote a letter to a newspaper explaining, in which he defends his nonviolent approach against racism.
  7. “Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”On February 4, 1968, Martin Luther King delivered a speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church called “The Drum Major Instinct” two months prior to his assassination. In this speech, King explains that “the drum major instinct” is the desire and importance to be first. He further explains that issues with racism stem from wanting to be superior to others. King suggested that people should love one another before anything else. King uses Jesus’ life as an example of how humility and love could lead to greatness. King concluded his speech on how he would like to be remembered as someone who dedicated his life to serving others.

These Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on love remind us that King believed in a world where conflicts should be handled peacefully and that even when bitterness seems instinctual, love should always prevail.

– Merna Ibrahim
Photo: Flickr

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Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Family

Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on familyMartin Luther King Jr. is remembered for many things. He was the leader of the American Civil Rights movement, an advocate for nonviolence, an inspirational speaker and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. At home, he was also a husband and father to four children. His dedication to his family was deeply connected to his vision for the United States. In fact, Dr. King’s mission for peace and equality was greatly inspired by his desire to help future generations of children. He consistently used familial metaphors and symbols to illustrate his greater points. Here are the top Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on family.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Family

  1. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.” (“I Have a Dream” speech, August 28, 1963)
  2. “Without love, there is no reason to know anyone, for love will, in the end, connect us to our neighbors, our children and our hearts.” (Date unknown)
  3. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” (speech in St. Louis, March 22, 1964)
  4. “When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands…” (“I Have a Dream” speech, August 28, 1963)
  5. “The group consisting of mother, father and child is the main educational agency of mankind.” (Date unknown)
  6. “I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.” (New York Journal-American, September 10th, 1962)
  7. “The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.” (Strength To Love, published 1981).
  8. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” (“I Have a Dream” speech, August 28, 1963)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on family went hand in hand with his mission for equality. Whether it was America’s children or his own, Dr. King emphasized coexisting and love for one another throughout his famous speeches. He used images of brotherhood and children to exemplify the relationships he believed Americans should have with one another. To Dr. King, family referred to more than blood relatives. It encompassed all people in the United States, regardless of color. Today, his message of prioritizing family is forever ingrained in his legacy, to be studied and appreciated by generations to come.

– Natalie Malek
Photo: Flickr

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How One Man Is Fighting to End Child Slavery

end child slaveryKailash Satyarthi has devoted his life’s work to one goal: to end child slavery. In 1980, Satyarthi quit his job as a teacher and founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which translates to Save the Childhood Movement. Bachpan Bachao Andolan is an organization that has freed over 87,000 children from slavery to date.

Achievements

In 2014, Satyarthi won the Nobel Peace Prize for the “struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” Additionally, he has been working at the United Nations to push governments to prioritize goals focusing on children and their needs, as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Satyarthi also founded the Global March Against Child Labor in 1998. It is “the largest civil society network for the most exploited children.” The march stretches across 103 countries. Moreover, it resulted in “the unanimous adoption of the [International Labor Organization] Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.”

Fight for Freedom

Alongside his team, Satyarthi works in the field on dangerous missions. These missions involve physically going into factories where children are forced to work and attempting to liberate them. The team regularly faces a large amount of backlash from factory owners who want to exploit children for increased profits. At times, clashes have turned violent. In these cases, those on Satyarthi’s team suffer injuries, with Satyarthi himself having ended up in the hospital on occasion. However, the team believes this risk is worth it to end child slavery.

Once liberated, Satyarthi and his team bring the children to the Bal Ashram, where the children are cleaned and fed. The children’s parents are then contacted. Parents are only able to take their child home upon providing documentation to prove their relationship to their child.

If they choose to, children can also return to the Bal Ashram to receive a proper education. In offering this, Satyarthi ensures children have the opportunity to get a well-paying career and not return to child labor.

Mobilization

On top of his work in the field, Satyarthi began a letter-writing campaign. His campaign involved over 15,000 people writing to the top 100 American retailers and asking them not to sell products created by child labor. Unfortunately, retailers in Western countries continue to exploit child slavery in developing nations to maintain lower prices. However, these retailers hold the power to fight child slavery should they demand their manufacturers to stop child labor.

In 2016, Satyarthi started the 100 Million campaign, an initiative that pushes for 100 million children around the globe “to speak out for the world’s more than 100 million child workers.” Satyarthi hopes that an empowered youth can enact positive change. As such, empowered youth can raise awareness of and fight to end child slavery in their respective nations.

Kailash Satyarthi has not only devoted his life to an incredibly noble cause but has actually enacted the positive change that he desires to see in the world. While there are still millions of children in slavery, the number has been steadily declining. With the efforts of the brave men, women and, most importantly, children who are helping Satyarthi in his goals, child slavery may one day become a thing of the past.

– Anish Kelkar
Photo: Flickr

Top Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Poverty

Top Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Poverty
The world knows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. best as an American activist. He was also a Baptist Minister and a Nobel Peace Prize award winner because of his nonviolent approach to racial prejudice in America. King was not only an anti-racism activist but also a champion for a number of other human rights issues including poverty.

Even decades after his death, poverty is still an issue across the globe. King believed it was the responsibility of those with the ability to eliminate poverty to do just that; to end the pain and suffering of others. Here are the top Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on poverty which came from his written works.

Top Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Poverty

  1. King’s 1961 “The American Dream” Speech
    “As long as there is poverty in this world, no man can be totally rich even if he has a billion dollars.”Read the full speech here.
  2. King’s Book “Strength to Love”
    “God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty.”Read more here.
  3. King’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize Address
    “A second evil which plagues the modern world is that of poverty…Almost two-thirds of the peoples of the world go to bed hungry at night. They are undernourished, ill-housed, and shabbily clad. Many of them have no houses or beds to sleep in. Their only beds are the sidewalks of the cities and the dusty roads of the villages. Most of these poverty-stricken children of God have never seen a physician or a dentist.”“There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.”“The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled, and feed the unfed. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these.’”

    Watch the acceptance speech here.

  4. King’s 1968 “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top” Sermon
    “While millions enjoy an unexampled opulence in developed nations, ten thousand people die of hunger each and every day of the year in the undeveloped world.”Read more here.
  5. King’s fourth and last book, entitled “Where do we go from Here: Chaos or Community”
    “The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.”Read more here.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave many speeches and sermons during his time before his assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. What he was able to accomplish has defined him as a notable leader of history in America and around the world. His legacy lives on as people around the globe continue to fight issues that still exist, like poverty. These top Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on poverty, as well as his other written words, continue to hold meaning for the people fighting to bring awareness to poverty around the globe and end the pain and suffering those in poverty must endure on a daily basis.

– Chelsea Wolfe
Photo: Wikipedia

12 Facts About Malala Yousafzai

Facts About Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai is a well-known Pakistani activist campaigning for education rights, particularly for young girls. In light of her mission and her extraordinary achievements, here are 12 facts about Malala Yousafzai.

12 Facts About Malala Yousafzai

  1. Malala was born in the Swat District of Pakistan. This region fell under the rule of the Taliban, which is a fundamentalist terrorist group that imposes highly restrictive rules on women and girls. The Taliban banned girls from attending school or receiving an education of any kind.
  2. Her father was a teacher and ran a chain of schools throughout the local region. He continuously encouraged all of his children to learn despite the societal restrictions. Malala credits her father for inspiring her to pursue further education and humanitarian work.
  3. Malala blogged for BBC for several years. In 2008, BBC Urdu journalists began looking for a young student to share private insight on what life was like under the Taliban. Despite the danger of being caught, Malala’s father recommended her for the assignment and she began blogging in secret, anonymously chronicling her life and her perspective on the rule of the Taliban. She was 11 years old.
  4. Malala started to gain notoriety from standing up to the Taliban publicly. With her father’s blessing, she openly opposed the Taliban rules set in place and began working to regain access to education for both herself and other girls throughout the region.
  5. She was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011 due to her activism and was awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize that same year. The Prime Minister of Pakistan later renamed the award the National Malala Peace Prize in her honor.
  6. The Taliban shot Malala in the head when she was 15 years old. Her newfound popularity and voice against the Taliban made Malala a high-profile target and in 2012 she was the victim of a nearly fatal assassination attempt. She was on the way home from school when a masked gunman asked for her by name and openly fired on her and her friends.
  7. She created the Malala Fund, a charity devoted to bringing equal education opportunities to girls around the world. Malala went to the United Kingdom for medical treatment directly after the shooter’s attack where she and her family settled permanently. Afterward, she established the Malala Fund with her father. Within its first year of operation, the Malala Fund raised over $7 million and opened up multiple schools in Malala’s native Pakistan.
  8. She celebrated her sixteenth birthday by giving a speech to the United Nations. Nine months after the assassination attempt, Malala spoke at invitation before world leaders and urged them to change certain policies in regard to education and women’s rights. Since then, Malala has held audience with notable political figures such as Queen Elizabeth and Former U.S. President Barack Obama and given lectures at Harvard University and the Oxford Union.
  9. July 12 has been officially designated Malala Day. After her critically acclaimed speech on her birthday at the United Nations, Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, urged all young people to speak out and let the world hear their voices. In an act of support, he declared Malala’s birthday Malala Day in honor of her courage and influential activism.
  10. She was a co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. After sharing her story, Malala catapulted to international fame and she received an outpouring of support from around the world as her story spread. In honor of her efforts, she became the youngest ever Nobel laureate at the age of 17.
  11. Malala received the United Nation’s highest honor. In 2017 she received the title of U.N. Messenger of Peace to promote girl’s education, a two-year appointment given to activists whose work has made an impact. The U.N. selects recipients carefully based on their future goals and past work, and the recipients engage closely with the United Nations’ leaders in an effort to make a change.
  12. Oxford University accepted Malala in 2017 where she began studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics. While pursuing her own studies, she currently still works with leaders and organizations around the globe on behalf of the Malala Fund and the United Nations, fighting for equal education for all.

While these 12 facts about Malala Yousafzai cannot encompass all of her achievements and work, they show that Malala’s bravery and perseverance have proven worthwhile in the face of adversity. Her goal to provide education to the world is a necessary step in ending global poverty.

“I raise my voice not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.” – Malala Yousafzai.

– Olivia Bendle
Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Nelson Mandela’s Childhood

facts about Nelson Mandela's childhood

Nelson Mandela is a widely respected and acknowledged figure. His work and sacrifices in ending apartheid in South Africa earned him both a Nobel Peace Prize and the South African presidency. However, many people do not know much about Mandela’s childhood.

Top 10 Facts about Nelson Mandela’s Childhood

  1. Mandela was born into the Xhosa culture
    The Xhosa culture is the second-largest cultural group in South Africa. They are smaller only than the Zulu, who are their long-term rivals despite numerous cultural similarities. The Xhosa are known for being a peaceful people and live mainly in the southern part of the country.
  2. He was a member of a royal family and was next in line to be chief
    Mandela was born in 1918 to the Thembu tribe, part of the Xhosa people, as a member of the tribe’s royal family. His father served as chief of the village he grew up in, and when he died, Mandela was groomed by a tribal regent to take a leadership position at a later age.
  3. He had a very large family growing up
    Nelson Mandela’s mother was the third of his father’s four wives. The chief is expected to take multiple wives from different families within the tribe. Through them, Mandela had nine sisters and three brothers.
  4. Nelson was not his real name
    One of the more surprising facts about Nelson Mandela’s childhood is that Mandela’s given name at birth was Rolihlahla. In Xhosa, this means “pulling the branch off the tree” or “troublemaker”. The English name Nelson was given to Mandela by a schoolteacher. This was a common practice among black South Africans.
  5. He was the first in his family to get a formal education
    Although born into a family of importance, Mandela was the first to gain a formal education. He received this as part of his grooming for future leadership.
  6. He attended missionary and Methodist schools
    Nelson Mandela’s childhood was filled with training and education. He attended a local missionary school, a boarding school and then a Methodist secondary school.
  7. Mandela was an athlete in school
    While attending a Methodist secondary school, Mandela was a multi-sport athlete. He was involved in boxing as well as track and excelled at both.
  8. He attended the University of Fort Hare
    Mandela went on to college at the University of Fort Hare. This was an elite South African school that was the only “Western-style” higher education available to black citizens in the country.
  9. He left school more than once while in college
    While at Fort Hare, Mandela and other students were sent home for boycotting certain university policies. He also later left school to avoid an arranged marriage and completed his bachelor’s degree by correspondence in Johannesburg.
  10. He studied law at the University of Witwatersrand
    Mandela studied law at the University of Witwatersrand, where he earned a degree and became involved in the fight against racial discrimination that made him famous.

Nelson Mandela may seem like a larger than life figure, but he was still just a man. His experiences influenced who he would become and how he would come to view the world. These facts about Nelson Mandela’s childhood help us to understand who he was as both a leader and a man.

– Megan Burtis

Photo: Flickr

American Friends Service Committee Brings Peace

american-friends-service-committee
The American Friends Service Committee has a specific way to address poverty: striving for peace. The organization was created in 1917 by young adults who wanted to help bring peace during wartime. The committee’s first project was conducted in France, where they helped care for World War I refugees and built homes and hospitals. Since then, the organization has traveled all over the world visiting war-torn areas to provide aid.

The American Friends Service Committee has fought famine in Russia, built orphanages in Poland and Serbia and fed the hungry in Germany and Austria. They not only helped victims on both sides of the Spanish-American War, they also helped people escape Germany in World War II. In 1947, the organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their commitment to aid.

Now, The American Friends Service Committee has developed even more ways to help. They not only attend to victims of war, but fight for the rights of immigrants, address high prison rates and criminal justice and challenge discrimination. They believe that every human life has value and try to speak up for those who may be voiceless in their communities. They also give speeches around the United States to inform other Americans about their cause and to advocate for peace.

The American Friends Service Committee states that they envision “a world in which lasting peace with justice is achieved through active nonviolence and the transforming power of love.”

“From our experience, we know that peacemaking requires more than merely advocating against one war or another,” says the American Friends Service Committee. “Real peace is more than the absence of war. Rather, we need to change the culture, situations, and systems that lead to violence. When people understand the terrible consequences of violence and witness realistic alternatives, they come together as a powerful force to address the underlying causes and lay the foundation for lasting peace.”

By spending $10.3 million dollars on international aid, this organization is well on their way to having their dream realized.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: American Friends Service Committee, Nobelprize.org
Photo: Flickr

10 Interesting Facts About MLK

facts about MLK
As the single most influential individual associated with the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. lived life under a spotlight. His legacy continues to be praised to this day for his courage, passion for justice and his devotion to civil equality. An advocate for nonviolence, Martin Luther King Jr. brought masses together in his time to fight against oppression with words and peaceful demonstration rather than brutality, violence and war.

His birthday, now a national holiday, celebrates and teaches many of the major highlights in his life, and resulted in a nation well-versed in his incredible life, justice goals and untimely, his martyred death.

For a man so inspiring, every day words that he spoke became inspirations to the public. Speeches and statements he gave lit a flame in the hearts of people who craved social justice and equality. In honor of Black History Month, here are 10 interesting facts about MLK, one of the most profound and inspiring American heroes:

    1. Originally, Martin was not his first name—it was actually Michael. His father, Martin Luther King Sr.’s, name was also originally Michael but after a trip to Germany, he changed both Michaels to Martin in homage to the historic German, Martin Luther.
    2. He and his wife, Coretta Scott, had four children named Yolanda Denise, Martin, Dexter and Bernice Albertine.
    3. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology in 1955.
    4. He was arrested on Jan. 26, 1956, for driving 30 mph in a 25 mph zone.
    5. Just four days later on Jan. 30, his house was bombed.
    6. In 1957, it is estimated that MLK traveled more than 780,000 miles and made 208 speeches.
    7. MLK had a lifelong admiration for Gandhi and visited India in 1959—crediting Gandhi’s passive resistance techniques for his civil rights successes.
    8. The first national celebration of MLK’s birthday was not until 1986.
    9. It is estimated that more than 700 streets in the U.S. are named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
    10. At 35, King was the youngest man to have won the Nobel Peace Prize. All of his monetary winnings from the award were put toward furthering the issue of civil rights and towards civil rights movements.

– Eastin Shipman

Sources: Nobel Prize, The Seattle Times
Photo: Biography

Malala Yousafzai: Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Fighting for one’s own education in this world is an honorable feat that many aspire for but sadly do not accomplish. At the age of seventeen Malala Yousafzai did just that. She is known for being the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism for right for women to have access to education.

Malala was born in 1997 in Mingora, Pakistan, where she was not banned from the opportunity to have an education. Yousafzai attended a school that her father founded. Once the Taliban began attacking their rights to education, she knew she had to say something about it. She gave a speech in 2008 entitled “How dare the Taliban take away my right to basic education?” This was just the start of her growing platform of writing and speeches in activism towards girl’s education.

In 2009, Yousafzai made her first BBC blog post that exposed the daily hardships that girls faced daily in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. Her posts were under a pseudonym that eventually was discovered. At the time the Taliban in the area was banning all girls from attending school, this did not stop Yousafzai from her protests. Even after her name was discovered, Yousafzai continued to post blogs about the daily violence, intimidation, ridicule and suffering that the girls faced.

As her popularity grew, the Taliban began to view Yousafzai as a threat. The uprisings built up and on October 2012, as Yousafzai was boarding her school bus, she was shot three times. The injury was so serious she was sent to Birmingham, England for further care. Even after the attempted assassination, Yousafzai continued to be an activist for women’s rights, especially education.

The United Nations petition for all children to have access to education by 2015, was inspired by Yousafzai. She has been honored with countless awards, including the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize along with Kailash Satyarthi of India, who is fighting against child slavery around the world. Both individuals were awarded because of their efforts towards “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”

Malala Yousafzai is a perfect example that if you have a strong enough belief in something, you do have the power to enact change. She stood up for not only herself, but girls all across the world who were told that they would not be given an education.

The power of one voice is truly strong enough to rattle the world.

– Charisma Thapa

Sources: Optimist World, A&E, USA Today

Photo: Flickr