MENLO PARK, California-
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai told an online audience on Friday that education is a precious opportunity that children in wealthy countries take for granted.
In a live chat on Facebook with company COO Sheryl Sandberg, Yousafzai said millions of children around the world don’t have the option of going to school.
“In the developing countries, there are so many children, like 57 million children, and especially girls, who are out of school, whose only dream is to go to school, whose only dream is to get quality education,” the teen activist said.
“They do not wish for an Xbox, they do not wish for a PSP or any other thing. They’re only wish is for a quality education, and they are struggling for that.”
Many of those children are in refugee camps, fleeing violence in their home countries. Malala recounted a conversation she had with one girl whose aspirations were very simple.
“Mazoon is 16-years-old. She wants to become a journalist and she is is in Zatari camp where there are 100-thousand people and out of those 100 thousand people, there are 60-thousand are children, and for those 60-thousand children, there are three schools, and she’s going to one of those schools.
She loves education and when I was asking her for her dream, I said, “Do you want to be a rich woman? What’s your dream?’ and her only dream was to go back to her home and to be able to go to Syria and be in a peaceful country and live a happy live and to be able to help others. That was her only dream.”
Malala reminded an online audience that stretched from Dubai to California that it took activists 100 years to win women the right to vote, and they should keep fighting for their dreams, no matter how long it takes.
“I also thought that my voice could not make a difference, but it did. And as I said, there are so many figures in our history who did not think that there would be a change that they would bring through their voice, but they did. And you should also believe in yourself, and trust yourself, because you can do it. You are the future generation. Just continue your struggle. People would not listen for one month, for two years, for three years, but the day will come when they will. Do not just be hopeless, because you all are together, you are not alone. Now we have social media and social media is just like a tool, it really depends on us how we use it. So let’s use social media as a tool for speaking up.”
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