Choose books not bullets!
The youngest child prodigy to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight and struggle against the suppression of children and for their to education, Malala Yousafzai turns 18, yesterday. The girl child who has received love and respect from all over the world, celebrated her birthday not like any regular teenager. Malala celebrated her 18th birthday in Lebanon by inaugurating a school for Syrian refugee girls. She called on world leaders to invest in “books not bullets.”
The Malala Fund, a non-profit organization sponsored the school in Bekaa Valley, which is near the Syrian border. The school is open for girls up to the age of 14 to 18. Currently, the school can accommodate 200 students.
“Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world’s children, I demand of leaders we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Malala said in a speech.
Lebanon is home to 1.2 million people who took refuge during the Syrian war. This number includes 500,000 Syrian school-age children out of which only a fifth are in formal education.
“In Lebanon as well as in Jordan, an increasing number of refugees are being turned back at the border,” Malala said. “This is inhuman and this is shameful.”
Malala’s parents are the luckiest parents in the world. They are proud of seeing Malala continue her her fight for the children’s rights. “This is the mission we have taken for the last 8-9 years. A small moment for the education of girls in Swat Valley: it is spreading now all over the world.”
Malala was in tears when the girls sang her the birthday song and got her a cake. When they asked her for an advice, she could only say:
“They are amazing, I don’t think they need any message, I don’t think they need any other advice because they know that education is very important for them.”
May the Gods bless you with all the power, strength and wisdom, Malala. You make all of us proud!
News information sourced from nbcnews
