Adesuwa Omoruan is dubbed the "queen of selfies" by her siblings. She confesses to taking more selfies than regulars photographs. When Adesuwa Omoruan was a child, she never thought or imagined herself becoming a broadcaster; it was the last thing she ever thought of becoming. As far as she was concerned, the lifestyle of reporters was not up to par with the kind of life she wanted, as the young dreamer that she was at the time. She wanted a life that was rich and full of the best life could offer, although she wasn't seeking a life that was necessarily flamboyant. "I just felt that journalist were not paid enough... My idea of a journalist wasn't just working at that time. Sometimes they looked very stressed, very few of them had cars... Growing up, I had this picture of what I wanted to be in life..." She had wanted to become a banker! As a child, she had taken trips to the bank with her mother on several occasions to cash-in her moth
"When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful."
That lone powerful voice was that of a seventeen year old Pakistani teenager who became the target of terrorist group, the Taliban, in her native Swat valley. Malala's foray into activism started when she was about 11-12 while writing a blog for the BBC Urdu detailing what it was like for her and other young girls living in her native Swat Valley during Taliban occupation.
Born Malala Yousafzai on the 12th of July, 1997 in the Swat District of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to an activist father, Ziauddin Yousafzai who also owns a school, Malala's was destined to take on the the Taliban. After a public speaking titled "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?"and blogging about her life in the Swat District on BBC Urdu, Malala became a target of the Taliban. Her voice began to grow and she started to garner world wide attention.
Her activism centers on women's right to education. She made appearances on TV shows.
On the 9th of October 2012, an assassination attempt was made on her by a Taliban terrorist. She was reportedly shot thrice.and was in critical condition at the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology until she was stable enough to be moved to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. This incidence brought an outpouring of international international support.
Rather than be daunted by the attempt on her life by the Taliban, Malala continued her activism one she has received numerous recognition and awards for. At 17, she won the Nobel Prize and became the youngest Nobel Laureate.
Some of her achievements includes:
Her activism centers on women's right to education. She made appearances on TV shows.
On the 9th of October 2012, an assassination attempt was made on her by a Taliban terrorist. She was reportedly shot thrice.and was in critical condition at the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology until she was stable enough to be moved to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. This incidence brought an outpouring of international international support.
Malala with her family after recovering from the attempt on her life |
Rather than be daunted by the attempt on her life by the Taliban, Malala continued her activism one she has received numerous recognition and awards for. At 17, she won the Nobel Prize and became the youngest Nobel Laureate.
Malala with the Obamas in the Oval Office |
Some of her achievements includes:
- 2011: International Children's Peace Prize (nominee)
- 2011: National Youth Peace Prize
- Anne Frank Award for Moral Courage, January 2012
- Sitara-e-Shujaat, Pakistan's third-highest civilian bravery award, October 2012
- Foreign Policy magazine top 100 global thinker, November 2012
- 2012: Time magazine Person of the Year shortlist
- Mother Teresa Awards for Social Justice, November 2012
- Rome Prize for Peace and Humanitarian Action, December 2012
- 2012: Top Name in Annual Survey of Global English, January 2013
- Simone de Beauvoir Prize, January 2013
- Memminger Freiheitspreis 1525, March 2013 (conferred on 7 December 2013 in Oxford
- Doughty Street Advocacy award of Index on Censorship, March 2013
- Fred and Anne Jarvis Award of the UK National Union of Teachers, March 2013
- Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards, Global Trailblazer, April 2013
- One of Time's "100 Most Influential People in the World", April 2013
- Premi Internacional Catalunya Award of Catalonia, May 2013
- Annual Award for Development of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), June 2013
- International Campaigner of the Year, 2013 Observer Ethical Awards, June 2013
- 2012: Tipperary International Peace Award, Ireland Tipperary Peace Convention, August 2013
- Portrait of Yousafzai by Jonathan Yeo displayed at National Portrait Gallery, London (2013)
- Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International
- 2013: International Children's Peace Prize, KidsRights Foundation
- 2013: Clinton Global Citizen Awards from Clinton Foundation
- Harvard Foundation's Peter Gomes Humanitarian Award from Harvard University
- 2013: Anna Politkovskaya Award – Reach All Women in War
- 2013: Reflections of Hope Award – Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum
- 2013: Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought – awarded by the European Parliament
- 2013: Honorary Master of Arts degree awarded by the University of Edinburgh
- 2013: Pride of Britain (October)
- 2013: Glamour magazine Woman of the Year
- 2013: GG2 Hammer Award at GG2 Leadership Awards (November)
- 2013: International Prize for Equality and Non-Discrimination
- 2014: Nominee for World Children's Prize also known as Children's Nobel Prize
- 2014: Awarded Honorary Life Membership by the PSEU (Ireland)
- 2014: Skoll Global Treasure Award
- 2014: Honorary Doctor of Civil Law, University of King's College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- 2014: Nobel Peace Prize, shared with Kailash Satyarthi
- 2014: Philadelphia Liberty Medal
- 2014: One of Time Magazine "The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014
- 2014: Honorary Canadian citizenship
- 2015: Grammy Award for Best Children's Album.
- 2015: Asteroid 316201 Malala named in her honour.
- 2016: Honorary president of the students union of the University of Sheffield
- 2016: DAWN newspaper reported that Malala biopraphy page on Wikipedia was the most read of the year among Pakistani personalities.
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