She is a student, an activist, and a hero. She is Malala Yousafzai, a sixteen-year-old girl who voices her opinion and stands up for what she believes in. Although she was shot in the head by those who sought to silence her, she has not let that incident destroy or deter her. Today, she is known as an influential young activist who has made it her mission to promote the education of girls everywhere. Her experiences are described in I Am Malala, a memoir that she co-authored with journalist Christina Lamb.

Malala is from the Swat district of Pakistan. Her father is an educational activist who kindled an interest in education in young Malala. For example, she would stay up at night discussing politics with her father. Unfortunately, Pakistan, Malala’s home country, is largely influenced by the Taliban, an oppressive Islamic fundamentalist political group. The Taliban did not agree with many of the ideas that Malala and her father had. Yet in 2008, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) began to look for a way to gain an inside perspective of Pakistan’s political turmoil. The BBC asked a teacher, who coincidentally was Malala’s father, to find a Pakistani school girl willing to write a blog of her daily experiences. No one was willing to step up to the potentially deadly job due to fear of the Taliban’s retribution. Mr. Yousafzai volunteered his eleven year-old daughter, Malala, to take up this daunting task.

In 2009, Malala began blogging under the pseudonym “Gul Makai.” At the time, the Taliban prohibited television and music and forbid girls from going to school and shopping. However, the Taliban continued to crack down further, closing down schools and depriving students, mainly girls, of their education. Meanwhile, Malala continued to be a diligent student, secretly learning from her father at home. Even after the blog ended, the turmoil escalated even more and Malala’s father received a death threat. Her family was then split up, as citizens were forced to inhabit refugee camps.

Instead of being discouraged, Malala was inspired by her father’s activism and resolved to become a politician. She soon began her career as a political activist, travelling globally to promote education for children. In 2012, after she finished her exams and was on her way home on a bus, a masked Taliban gunman ambushed her and other students, saying “Which one of you is Malala? Speak up, otherwise I will shoot you all.” Malala was identified and then shot. The bullet travelled through her skull and neck, ending up in her shoulder.

With the help of various medical centers, Malala was able to recuperate with no severe brain damage. There was worldwide outcry because this young girl was brutally harmed for simply promoting education. Surprisingly, she harbors no hatred for the gunman. She was not fazed and continued her political career. Malala addressed the United Nations on her sixteenth birthday, coined “Malala Day,” and said “Malala Day is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights.”