When Nobel Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai Came to Boston
Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year-old Pakistani activist for girls’ education, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday morning. To better understand why she won the award, we revisited the speeches she gave in the Boston area last year.
“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world,’’ Yousafzai said at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre on September 28, 2013. “Let us stand up for our rights, and let us fight.’’
That speech came less than a year after Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman for her local activism and promotion of girls’ education. While in a coma, she was flown to a hospital in Britain for care, and had a long recovery ahead.
Less than a year later, she would be in the Boston area telling her story, selling her memoir “I Am Malala,’’ and accepting Harvard’s humanitarian of the year award.
“We are not here to make a long list of issues we are facing,’’ she said, according to The Harvard Crimson. “We are here to find the solution … and it is simple: education, education, education.’’
Malala Yousafzai’s Harvard visit included a speech in Harvard Yard.
Yousafzai urged the 900 people in attendance that night to defy any attempts to deny education to women, including from the Taliban. She also met with Harvard University president Drew Gilpin Faust in an event at Harvard Yard to further promote calls for international education.
Malala Yousafzai was again in the Boston area not long after that to be honored by the JFK Library on October 12, 2013.
“I’m not asking for any support for myself. Whether I’m shot or not, it does not matter,’’ she said to WBUR’s Robin Young, who hosted the discussion. “I want support for my cause of education, for my cause of peace.’’
Organizers of the event also presented her with a bronze bust of John F. Kennedy.
Friday’s Nobel Peace Prize makes Yousafzai the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner ever. She shared the award with Kailash Satyarthi of India, 60, who is an advocate for ending child slavery and child labor.
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