I am Malala

A Stage Play by mariam the great

Its a monologue assignment for english, I read her biography and I presented it as if i were her

I am Malala Yousafzai, I am seventeen years old and I from the Swat Valley in Pakistan. Many of you have heard of my story, through the news, on the radio or maybe even in school.

The day the Taliban came to my village I was scared. I was riding in a truck, a school bus of sorts, and I was on my way to school with 11 of my female classmates. We were all afraid, terrified of going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending. All of a sudden the truck stopped, we had been singing along to a song on the radio and the driver immediately turned it off. There was a man standing in front of the truck, as he approached us, with his masked face and large gun I knew something was wrong. I was scared and I was angry too, angry at these men who thought they could stop girls from going to school. Angry that they thought we didn’t deserve to be educated. I thought of hurting him, hurting them all before they could hurt us, self defense really. But what would that make me, someone who wants peace but uses violence to acheive it? I thought of the Quran, and how it says that no matter how violent your enemies may get you must be patient, for if you strike the one who intends to strike you, then you are no better than they are. So instead, I held my friends hand, I held it tight and I looked my attacker in the eye. I wanted him to see me, to see my eyes and know that what he was doing was wrong. To understand that the girls of my country, the girls of this world, will never stop learning, we will never stop growing and reading and writing and speaking. I let my eyes do the fighting for me that day.

The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born ... I am not against anyone, neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorist group. I'm here to speak up for the right of education for every child. I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all terrorists and extremists.

I want every girl, every child to be educated. To know how it feels to hold a book in their hand, to enter the magical words that lay just beyond the words. To use math to solve everyday problems, to know the science of this world and how it all fits together. As I stand before you all, students, male and female, I ask of you only one favor. I ask you to never stop learning, to get all the knowledge you can and to use it, by god, use it. To help the helpless, to protect the ones who need protecting, to speak for those who have no voice.

I am Malala and I will never stop moving forward. I am a girl and I will never stop speaking up. I am a student and I will never stop learning. I will stare down the barrel of every gun that is pointed at me and face it with surety because I know that what i am doing is right.

All I want is an education and I am afraid of no one.