i am sassa

Malala Yousafzai was born when I was sixteen, and has already won a Nobel Prize.

I watched her acceptance speech…her soul is not 23. She has the wisdom of a 100 year old and the bravery of a seasoned veteran of war, all while making jokes about fighting with her brothers.

Malala is no stranger to war conditions. She was born in Pakistan and was attending a girls school run by her father when the Taliban took hold in her village. She was eleven years old when their grasp tightened to the point where women were no longer allowed an education. She was furious. And she said so, to anyone who would listen. She spoke publicly about her right to education. She spoke on behalf of the friends whose families would have never allowed the same from them. She became a target.

I listened to her speak while I painted her. I watched the documentary “He Named Me Malala”, and in it both Malala and her father said they never thought the Taliban would kill a child. In 2012, a masked member boarded Malala’s school bus and shot her in the head. She woke up more than a week later in her family’s new home in England, the Taliban making it clear that she was to be killed if she returned.

Being born where she was as a female meant the odds of Malala ever speaking out about her injustice were low at the start. Being shot in the head would deter most people, I imagine. But Malala has not stopped talking. She’s talked to Diane Sawyer, Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah, Ellen, Oprah… the list is forever long. She established the Malala Fund to help girls everywhere receive an education and be in control of their futures. I am pretty excited to see where she takes her own.

Thank you, Malala.