First Names: Malala (Yousafzai) E-Book

Lisa Williamson

• Herausgeber: David Fickling Books
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: First Names
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 119

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Meet MALALA Yousafzai, the brave and brilliant activist who survived being shot in the head aged 15 to keep fighting for all girls to receive and education.Find out:- How an earthquake literally rocked her world,- Why everyone forgot her twelfth birthday- And how she became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.Get to know MALALA on First Name terms.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

TITLE PAGEINTRODUCTION1 - NO PARTY FOR MALALA2 - MALALA MAKES SOME DECISIONS3 - MALALA GETS ANGRY4 - MALALA AND THE TALIBAN5 - MALALA SPREADS THE WORD6 - MALALA ON THE MOVE7 - WATCH OUT, MALALA8 - MALALA LOSES A WEEK9 - MALALA WAKES UP10 - MALALA MOVES OUT11 - WHAT MALALA DID NEXTTIMELINEGLOSSARYINDEXCOPYRIGHT

INTRODUCTION

When: 9th October 2012 Where: Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan

Malala was in a good mood travelling home from school. She was pretty sure she’d aced the morning’s exam and was looking forward to a chilled-out afternoon at home.

She was having a giggle with her best friend, Moniba, when the school bus stopped suddenly. A young man was standing in the road in front of it. He wore long white robes and a baseball cap. ‘Is this the Khushal School bus?’ he asked.

Another young man jumped onto the back of the bus and leaned in. A hush fell over the girls as both men glared at them. Her heart hammering in her chest, Malala found Moniba’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Around twenty girls were crammed onto the hard plastic benches and they stared back, stunned, as the men scanned the bus.

‘Who is Malala?’ the second man asked gruffly. No one answered his question, but a few of the girls glanced in Malala’s direction before they could stop themselves. Then the same man raised a pistol for all the girls to see.

Malala froze with fear.

The man fixed his gaze on her and raised his pistol higher, aiming it at her head. The other girls began to scream, but Malala didn’t make a sound, she just squeezed Moniba’s hand harder.

A split second later, the man pulled the trigger and everything went black.

Malala was bleeding profusely as the bus swerved through the heaving streets of Mingora, speeding towards the local hospital. Once there, doctors said her prospects were grim, so grim that with a heavy heart, Malala’s dad began making funeral arrangements. For a short while it looked like the men had succeeded in their quest to silence her.

But Malala did not die; she survived, and within days of her shooting she had become one of most famous teenagers on the planet. Her new-found fame made her more determined than ever to stand up for what she believed in. Since the age of 11, Malala had been speaking up about educational rights for girls. She believed that every single girl in the world deserved to go to school, and she wanted as many people to hear her message as possible. And she still does! Over the next few years, the message spread across the globe. She has written books, appeared on television and met all sorts of important people, including President Obama and the Queen. She’s also the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Extraordinary stuff, right?

Didn’t Beyoncé wish you a happy birthday once?

And Selena Gomez called you her ‘role model’!

You like Wotsits???

Hmmmmm, all of that does sound fairly ordinary, actually. So what makes Malala’s story so special? Well, it didn’t start with the shooting and the sudden fame. As we’re about to find out, this ‘ordinary’ girl was destined to achieve extraordinary things from the very moment she was born.

1 NO PARTY FOR MALALA

Ziauddin Yousafzai was over the moon. On the hot sticky morning of 12th July 1997 his wife gave birth to their first child – a beautiful bouncing baby girl. Over the next few days, he told everyone he met about the new addition to his family – he was so excited. People were polite but confused.

Why was he so happy and proud? After all, his wife had only had a baby girl. The thing is, in Pakistan, even today, from the second they enter the world, boys and girls are mostly treated very differently. When a baby boy is born, the family celebrates. Guns are fired up into the sky and visitors come to coo over the cradle and cram it with sweets and money. But when a baby girl is born … no gunshots, no gifts, people don’t even bother to visit! Instead they sympathize with the ‘poor’ mother and hope, for her sake, that her next child will be a boy.

Girls play as important a role in Pakistan as they do anywhere else in the world, but some families see raising girls as a financial burden. Girls can’t go out to work and provide for their families like boys do; it’s not allowed, and it can cost over a million rupees (about £5,800) to marry a daughter off.

Most girls are destined to spend their lives at home being wives and mothers, cooking and looking after the home and their children. And for some reason, that doesn’t seem as important as earning a regular income. This is the way it’s been for hundreds of years, which is why Ziauddin’s celebrations for his daughter were so very unusual.

HIGH-FLYING ZIAUDDIN

Ziauddin had a habit of challenging tradition that started when he was a boy – and brother to five sisters, no less! While he and his older brother went off to school, the girls were made to stay at home and learn how to run a house, so that when they got married and had families of their own (which would most definitely happen) they’d know what to do. Ziauddin thought this seemed really unfair, and as soon as he was old enough, he planned to do something about it.

In spite of his stammer, Ziauddin entered a public speaking competition. He practised and practised and practised until he knew his speech so well he could recite it in his sleep.

When the day of the competition rolled round, Ziauddin was terrified.

But then he spoke, and something amazing happened: his anxiety melted away and he made it to the end of his speech without stammering once.

After that, there was no stopping him. His dad was so impressed, he gave Ziauddin a nickname: ‘Shaheen’ – meaning falcon – because falcons fly high above the other birds. Ziauddin’s dad saw a great future ahead for his son, but it wasn’t the future Ziauddin had planned for himself.

If Ziauddin didn’t want to be a doctor, his dad wasn’t going to pay his living expenses. That meant Ziauddin couldn’t go to college.

In the end Ziauddin did make it to university thanks to a family friend called Akbar Khan. Akbar noticed the boy’s eloquence and admired his vision. He insisted on lending him the money.

Ziauddin was thrilled. It felt like his life was finally beginning. It also happened to be an interesting time in Pakistani history …

As part of India, Pakistan had been ruled by the British for over 90 years.

In 1947, we finally gained our independence. Two separate countries were formed: India, with a mainly Hindu population and Pakistan, with a mainly Muslim population. Thirteen million people were forced to move, and one million were killed in terrible riots.

Our new country would be a democracy, represented by politicians we, the people, elected – hurray! …

Except the military took control instead, and those elections didn’t happen for 23 years!

Even then, the military weren’t happy to hand over and in 1971 there was a war in which hundreds of thousands of people died. The war led to a new country, called Bangladesh, being formed.

Two years later, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) finally became Pakistan’s first properly elected leader.

But the military were still lurking in the background, and in 1977 they ousted Bhutto and put their own General Zia in his place.

In 1988, the year my dad became a student, Zia died in a plane crash and democracy finally seemed to be a possibility. That’s why things seemed so exciting.

Ali Bhutto’s daughter was leading her father’s party in that year’s elections, and she was very popular. Benazir Bhutto wanted change; she wanted women and men to be more equal, and she wanted better relations between Pakistan and India.

The PPP won and Benazir became the first female prime minister of Pakistan and the first ever in the Islamic world.

The election happened during Ziauddin’s first term at college. Lots of student organizations that had been banned under the previous government were suddenly active again. Everyone was feeling optimistic.

With his experience of public speaking Ziauddin was a natural leader, and soon he was making speeches, chairing debates and leading demonstrations all over the campus, and he became more dedicated than ever to his dream of opening a school.

TOOR PEKAI’S FIRST (AND LAST) DAY AT SCHOOL

Life couldn’t have been more different for Malala’s mum! Toor Pekai grew up in the same cluster of villages as Ziauddin, but the two of them didn’t meet until they were much older.

When she was six, Toor Pekai’s dad did something rather unusual: he sent her to school – and Toor Pekai really didn’t appreciate it. She was the only girl in her class and she stuck out like a sore thumb in a room full of noisy boys. She spent most of the day wondering what her female cousins were up to and which games she was missing out on.

After her lessons were over, instead of going home, she went to the market and swapped her school books for sweets.

She worried that her dad might tell her off, but as it happened, no one said a word. The next day she went back to playing with her cousins in the fields and never set foot inside the school again.

ZIAUDDIN MAKES A MOVE

In Pakistan, most marriages are arranged by the bride’s and groom’s families. But Ziauddin and Toor Pekai fell in love all by themselves!

Even so, it wasn’t easy. Ziauddin sent Toor Pekai love poems. But of course, at that time she couldn’t read, so she didn’t have a clue what they said. She did admire him for trying, though.

Eventually, Ziauddin went to ask for permission to marry Toor Pekai. But their two dads knew each other – and they weren’t friends. Neither one of them wanted the marriage, but Ziauddin wasn’t about to give up. He asked …

After nine long months, Toor Pekai’s dad gave in.

Ziauddin and Toor Pekai were perfect for each other. They laughed all the time and were really happy together. In most Pakistani households, the men rule the roost – just the idea of asking their wives before making an important decision seems ludicrous. Ziauddin was having none of this. He ran every decision by Toor Pekai, and listened carefully to her advice on matters big and small. Today he still says it’s her strength that holds the family together during difficult times.

ZIAUDDIN’S DREAM

A few years after leaving college, Ziauddin set about opening his own school – a private primary for boys and girls that would teach in English. He found a shabby old building on the banks of a particularly smelly river, and spent his life savings repairing and repainting it, and going door-to-door to find his first pupils.

He named it the Khushal School after one of his heroes, Khushal Khan Khattak, a legendary poet and warrior from the 1600s. Ziauddin wanted his students to be brave warriors too, only their weapons would not be swords, but their pens and brains!

Toor Pekai was at his side the entire time, helping him get the building ready and offering advice on business matters. They lived in a two-roomed shack opposite the school and hoped it wouldn’t be for ever.

On the day of the opening in 1994, the school looked spotless. There was just one (rather large) problem. Ziauddin had only managed to recruit three students! Parents had enjoyed talking to him on their doorsteps and liked his ideas, but they thought his brand-new school was too risky – better to keep their kids where they were.

Ziauddin carried on as normal, but he was seriously worried. The school was expensive to run, and soon they were falling behind on the rent. In the end, Toor Pekai sold her wedding bangles and the school was able to stay open for a few months longer. Then came some unbelievably bad luck: flash floods struck the area, and the school building was severely damaged along with everything in it! But even when the books and equipment were covered with slimy stinking mud, Ziauddin wouldn’t let go of his dream, especially now there was a baby on the way …

Strangely, when Malala arrived in July 1997, Ziauddin’s luck began to change. First of all, the family moved into more comfortable rooms above the school (they’d cleaned off the mud by then). Secondly, as word spread that the Khushal School was a good one, with great teachers and an excellent philosophy, more and more students started to trickle through the doors. Soon after Malala was born, there were 100 students. Pakistani girls were finally getting the same education as their brothers – Ziauddin’s dream was coming true.

Education is supposed to be free In Pakistan, but the government schools aren’t always the best. So private schools, like my dad’s, have become more popular.

Our school day starts at six or seven a.m. (we head home at lunchtime). Most of us learn maths, science, English language, social studies, art, PE, Urdu (Pakistan’s official language) and Islamic studies.

Most schools the government runs are for just boys, or just girls, but private schools often teach both – though girls are far less likely to go to school, or complete their education. My dad’s school is mixed in primary, then girls and boys learn separately from 11. Lessons are all in English too – a really useful language for students to learn.

Corporal (physical) punishment is very common in Pakistan schools …

Ziauddin had big plans for his daughter from the start. He named her Malala after Malalai of Maiwand, a brave teenage warrior who lived in the 1800s.