It is a real honour for me
to bring on our speaker who we have found
wandering the corridors of the theatre
 Malala, as you'll all know, Yousafzai, was born in the Swat Valley, in Pakistan. She was a great campaigner for education 
taught by her father, who is here tonight
who is a wonderful teacher and a mentor to her
She spoke out on behalf of the education of women from the age of, I think, eleven
She wrote blogs about that 
The Taliban in that region not only disapprove of education for women but actively seek to discourage it
 
She spoke out on behalf of it
and a decision was taken by the Taliban that she had to be stopped
And at the age of fifteen, she was confronted on a bus and shot
And with great luck, miraculously, she survived
She came to England, where she was treated, and she has gone on
She was already becoming a great voice for education
but she's gone on to be the leading icon in the world
for education, not just for women, particularly of women, but for all young people everywhere
And she doesn't talk about it just. She talks about it beautifully. She spoke recently at the United Nations
She spoke at the White House. She was in Nigeria recently. She's travelling the world for the Malala Fund
She doesn't just speak it. She lives it. She is the prime example of what she is arguing for
And, on your behalf, may I welcome to the stage, Malala
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you so much. Thank you
In the name of God
 the most merciful, the most beneficent, the first thing is that I'm not that much tall
and I hope that you will be able to see me
 because this should have been shorter, so, well that's alright
I would like to say thank you to the World Merit and the CEO, the founder, to every member of this team for giving me this great opportunity
to be here and to share my feelings and my thoughts with you all
and to meet you all because you are the young generation and I am very happy that I am here
People usually call me Malala Yousafzai, the girl shot by the Taliban, or the girl that speaks for education
but I'd like to share my story with you, like, where I came from, and what was the reason that lead me to speak up for education
and why am I speaking now and what is the reason behind that
So, in the north of Pakistan, there's a beautiful place called Swat Valley, and it is known for its beauty
Tourists from all over the world used to go there and there was this girl there named Malala, and I had two brothers
They're still there.
And they're very nice brothers
Not really
[audience laughs]
And I was enjoying my life, going to school everyday, carrying this heavy bag, and didn't know of the importance of this huge bag in which I have
put a lot of books. What is the importance of the homework which I do everyday? And why am I going to school?
And I was not realising that even though I loved my school, I loved my education, I wasn't really thinking about how it was going to empower me.
But then in 2007, some terrorists came into our valley, and they were called the Taliban
And they came with their own created message and they said that, in Islam, girls are not allowed to go to school, and there is no freedom for women, and women should stay in their houses
and they ban girls education
 And they stopped women from going to market and they blasted more than 400 schools at that time
 And I was one of those girls who could not go to school, and I wanted to continue my education
And, at that time, I realised an education is something that is empowering me
That is making me independent, that is making me able to take part in society and to contribute to my society
And these people do not want women to come forward and that's  why they're stopping them from getting education
And I said that I will stand up for my rights
I will speak up and raise my voice
And, at that time, me and a few other girls and my father and his friends, we spoke up for peace and education
in our valley Swat
I wrote a diary for the BBC and through the diary, I was sharing my story with people from all over the world so that they can hear what is happening in Swat
and I've also been in documentaries and interviews. I was not realising that these documentaries and these interviews will bring a change and do something
but soon in 2009, when peace was restored, when a military operation was done, when schools restarted and we started going back to school
I realised that yes, our voices are powerful and I realised that a woman's voice is more powerful than any other voice
and this is what we proved in Swat. A few girls spoke and they changed the whole situation. Now there is peace and everything is going well
But, during this whole situation, when there was terrorism
I spoke because of something, there were two choices for me. One was to remain silent
and suffer through terrorism and waiting to be killed
and the second option was to speak up and then be killed
and I choose the second one
We spoke up. We spoke up for our rights
because we did not want to live in that situation. We were not allowed to go to school
and where we would have had to have lived under the terrorism of the Taliban
Now, when we look at the current situation
there are many children who are out of school
there are fifty seven million children who have no access to education,
and women are given rights and are respected in many countries now, in the developed countries
but if you looked at the developing countries, they still need their rights and they still need their support from society and they still need more spaces
And if you look at the current situation in countries like Syria, 
where there is a big conflict, and many of the children are now refugees, and there are about 300,000 children in Lebanon only
and these children are deprived of education, and they have missed their school for more than three years, and this is the time when they need our support and this is the time when we should support them 
then, when we look at the situation in Nigeria 
there's this group, just like the Taliban called Boko Haram, and they also want girls not to be educated, and do not believe in any education
they do not want women to be active, they do not want women to take part in society and to be recognised as human beings
and, in Nigeria, the situation is the same as the situation we were suffering in Swat
In Swat, we were not allowed to go to school in the same situation girls in Nigeria are suffering through
they are not allowed to go to school, and you might have heard about the two hundred girls who were abducted by Boko Haram
and they are in a difficult situation now
we cannot even imagine being under this group called Boko Haram, and we don't even know in which the conditions those girls would be 
and they really need our support right now and we should speak up for them and we should ask the government and the responsible people to do something
[audience clapping]
Thank you
[audience clapping]
Now, there is this big conflict in Iraq as well, and when we look at the current issues there, there is this big war, we may call it
or conflict between Israel and Palestine, and many children are dying, innocent children are dying who have committed no crime, and we should not lose these children, our future generation
and we are answerable, we should think about them and why are they dying? What is their crime?
So peace is a necessity and all the countries, all the responsible people, the leaders, they should sit together and find solutions to these issues
we cannot solve any problems through war. The only way we can solve problems is by talk, is through dialogue
and we should use dialogue for solving our problems between the countries or between different regions
[audience clapping]
So, whatever is going on in this whole world, we are fortunately, or maybe unfortunately,  
there are war, there are conflicts, and sometimes people lose hope. Sometimes, I lose hope. I just think 'How are we going to do it?'
'How are we going to get rid of these wars?' 'How are we going to stop the killing of these children?'
And innocent people and women?'
But, if we look back at the situation that we suffered through in Swat
there comes hope because, in Swat, I could not imagine for a second that one day we would be free to go to school
and then they came, we are free to go to school there in Swat, there are no Taliban on the streets
so we should be hopeful and we should just look back at the history and think about
the time when Martin Luther King Jr, when he was speaking and saying that 'I Have A Dream'
He was saying that 'I have a dream' and he wanted black and white and all colours, people with any kind of colour, treated equally
and his dream is coming true. We are seeing that dream in reality now. It's now a reality
We should think about the time when women were speaking up for their rights to vote
they were shouting in the streets and they were begging that they needed to be respected in society 
We should have the right to vote
and now we see that women are allowed to vote
and I'll share my personal story as well
I went to Kenya for the purpose that I should go there and see the work that Free the Children, which is a very good organisation and they're doing great work
I wanted to see their work in Kenya and how they do it because we have now set up the Malala Fund, and the Malala Fund wants to learn from other organisations
on how to work on the ground, make it stable, and how to see that it is a good development and that we are contributing to the society
so when we went there, I saw these people from Masai Mara and they were amazing
and there was one Masai warrior, and I asked that warrior
'why are you called warrior?'
and how can you become a warrior?' So they said that when you kill one lion or more than one lion ,then you can become a warrior
and he said that it was in the past that they used to think like that
now, because of education, because of the work of Free the Children, now they are going to school and they have changed their minds
they have changed their culture. They say that when a boy or a girl gets a degree and gets quality education, then we call them Masai warriors
and if we kill lions, then the lions would be finished
[audience clapping]
so this is how change comes to society and these are the contributions of some great people and this is the contribution of education to society
so we should not be hopeless, we should be hopeful because things are going to change with the passage of time
and it is we who are going to bring the change
it is we who are going to make our future bright 
so we should not be hopeful
we should not be hopeless, sorry!
and the other thing was that, in Masai Mara, the change came because of education
and this is what my message is to the whole world that is focused on education: let's make sure that every children is getting education
is going to school, and there is no child left 
and we should not hear that there are 57 million children out of school but rather we should hear that there are zero children out of school
so this is how we are going to bring change in our society and this is how we are going to see that there is peace
in every corner of the world and every child is treated equally
no child is killed in any kind of war. I am hopeful that this change will come, but the changes comes through our struggle 
And I know that there are young people in this audience and I am hopeful that you will contribute to this campaign and you will be the one who will be the change, and you will be the next Martin Luther King Jrs 
and you are going to be the activists who are going to bring change, and you are going to be the Nelson Mandelas, so I should not lose hope, you should not lose hope 
and we should be hopeful and we can brin gthe change through education so thank you so much
[audience clapping]
Thank you
[audience clapping]
