Everyday is Malala Day
It started with a dissenting voice against the persecution of women and the lack of access they had to education in the small pristine plot of land in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Now, that dissenting voice has survived an assassination attempt against her life by the Taliban, and is the youngest Nobel-Prize laureate for her activists work in female education. Her name is Malala Yousafzai.
In honour of Malala’s cause and Malala day, which Ban Ki-Moon the Secretary General of the United Nations, set as July 12, a book titled Every Day is Malala Day has been published.
From the work of author Rosemary McCarney and Plan International, with publisher Second Story Press, the book features a series of images from young girls in countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Indonesia and El Salvador who all embody Malala’s cause and fight for equality for all in education. Each turn of the page brings a new voice, with beautiful imagery, to show that all young girls everywhere who fight the same fight as Malala are united and bonded through their cause.
The book is a letter to Malala.
Starting with an image of a young girl from Peru clutching a red pen in her hand and writing out “Dear Malala”, the book opens then leads into quotes on the next pages that say, “To girls like me, you are a leader who encourages us. And you are a friend,” and “You Malala, have reminded us that it is your right—my right—every child’s right to go to school.”
“Every Day is Malala Day is an example of many young voices saying “we too…” and “thank you” in their own way—a global dialogue about what it’s like to be a girl today,” McCarney about the creation of the book.
Malala may not have known at the time that her courageousness in the face of the Taliban in Pakistan and speaking up for women’s rights in education and education for all, would soon lead her to the global stage were she would become a leader, a champion and friend for millions around the world.
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