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Christian Conference of Asia
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Malala Yosufzai
An Embodiment of Courage and Conviction
A young Pakistani
girl, Malala Yosufzai from Swat, was shot in the head, point-blank,
by a Taliban gunman. This 14 year-old champion of a girl’s right to
self-expression, came to prominence in 2009 at the age of 11, when she started
writing a diary for BBC Urdu, about life under the Taliban. She could not be silenced even by bullets. Malala
was flown from Pakistan to the UK for medical treatment on board an
air ambulance provided by the United Arab Emirates, accompanied by a full
medical team. She is in a serious condition and is being seen by doctors at
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham which has the capability to provide
"integrated care to children who have sustained severe injury".
Hailed as an example of
courage, Malala has a lot of support and sympathy from people all over the
world. Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown - now the UN's Special Envoy for
Global Education - has announced the launch of a petition in Malala's
name "in support of what Malala fought for". The petition calls
on Pakistan to ensure that every girl like Malala has the chance to go to
school, and also called on the international community to ensure all children
have access to education by the end of 2015.
May we as Church pray for the
life of this little girl who had the courage to fight for the girl child's
right to education and dignity of life.
An extract from Malala's Diary, dated 8 February 2009
I am sad watching
my uniform, school bag and geometry box. I felt hurt on opening my wardrobe and
seeing my uniform, school bag and geometry box. Boys' schools are opening
tomorrow. But the Taleban have banned girls' education. The memories of my
school flashed before me, especially the arguments among the girls.
posted by communications on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 |
