Global Affairs Director Lisa Breglia was accompanied by current and former Global Affairs students as well as Mason Global Problem Solving Fellows at the Newseum in a special event hosted by the Voice of America. Yousafzai, now 18, is the youngest person, the first Pashtun and first Pakistani person to receive a Nobel Prize. An outspoken champion of education, she spoke to the assembled university students and others at the Washington, DC event about women’s rights and education for girls.
The world has been inspired by Malala’s courage since the Taliban boarded her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley three years ago and shot Malala in the head. Since her recovery, she has traveled far and wide advocating for the empowerment of women and children through education. Since 2013, the Malala Fund has been established to invest in local and national nonprofit organizations delivering quality secondary education for girls in the most vulnerable communities.
Attendees of the DC event had the opportunity to view the trailer of the upcoming documentary film chronicling Yousafzai’s life which will be released this October. The film, He Named Me Malala, refers to Yousafzai’s father’s decision to name her after a Pashtun heroine. The theme of women carrying their own names rather than being called “wife of” or “daughter of” their husband or father was emphasized many times over in the comments made by Malala’s father in the evening’s discussion.
As expressed by Global Affairs undergraduate and Global Problem Solving Fellow Jordan Beauregard, "Meeting Malala was a once in a lifetime opportunity."
September 11, 2015