Malala Yousafzai: Youngest Winner Of The Nobel Peace Prize

Malala didn’t plan on being an anonymous blogger. But when the Taliban threatened her right to learn, the safety of her friends and family, and her school, everything changed.

- Colette Weil Parrinello

Blogger at 11

Her family encouraged her, a girl, to learn and speak freely about the importance of education. When she was 10, the Pakistani Taliban took over the Swat Valley, and her city, Mingora, in northwest Pakistan. The Taliban bombed girls’ schools, threatened people, forbad women from going outside, banned TV, cinema, and DVDs, and murdered those who didn’t follow their edicts. In December 2008, the Taliban issued a demand—no girls shall go to school. Many students and teachers in Malala’s school stayed home out of fear.

Her father, Ziauddin, ran a chain of public schools and was a leading education advocate.

A friend of his at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) asked if there was a teacher or older student who would write a diary about life under the Taliban for its Urdu website. Nobody would do it. Malala overheard her father and said, “Why not me?”

Malala’s blog was born under the fake name “Gul Makai,” which is the name of a heroine in a Pashtun folk story. Her first entry was on January.3, 2009, and was titled “I am Afraid.”

Her blog became a success. She wrote about girls getting an education, her fear of the Taliban and the loss of her school, how much she loved learning, and her worry about her family and friends.

Identity Revealed and Escape

In January 2009, a New York Times documentary film made earlier showed Malala's and her father’s efforts to improve education. By April, her secret identity was accidently revealed, and her blogging days ended. She continued to speak out about girls education rights in TV interviews, even as her beloved school was closed.