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Malala celebrates 20th birthday with war-hit Iraqi school girls
Nobel Peace Prize winner went to Iraq as part of her ‘Girl Power Trip’ and spent the day with the girls forced out of school during the violence in Mosul and other towns.
The youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai celebrated her 20th birthday with girls displaced by violence in Iraq’s Mosul, which was recently liberated from the clutches of Islamic State.
She went to Iraq as part of her ‘Girl Power Trip’ and spent the day with the girls forced out of school during the violence in Mosul and other towns.
“I chose to spend my birthday this year in Iraq to meet girls like 13-year-old Nayir. When extremists occupied Mosul, Nayir could not go to school for three years. Her family fled the city in April, when her father was captured by ISIS. They haven’t heard from him since,” Yousafzai, who recently finished her final high school exams, said in her blog.
“Fighting in the streets may be over, but our fight for girls continues,” she added.
Originally from Pakistan, the founder of multi-million dollar Malala Fund became a global figure after she was shot by Taliban in 2012 for demanding the right to education for girls in her country. She was 15 years old when she was attacked.
World leaders, including former US first lady Michelle Obama, wished Yousafzai on Twitter.
Here are some of the birthday wishes:
