- Often we think we are too
young and our ideas may not work
and we need to grow up to bring change.
I just say, no.
Whatever you want to do
now, you can do it now.
Believe in your ideas,
believe in yourself.
- My name is Malala and I'm very young.
19.
Girls need to step forward
and they need to be
role models in their community.
Any girl, in any part of the
world, they can be role models.
They can step forward.
They can advocate.
Women are half of the
population of the world
and when women lag behind
it means our society,
the whole world is lagging behind.
So, involvement of women,
education of girls is so
important for us to go forward.
It improves standards of living,
it helps create more jobs,
it helps improve the economy.
Society becomes more peaceful.
It is less likely that those
countries would end up at war.
So, there's so many advantages that we see
through educating girls.
When I was in Swat Valley,
I was only 10 or 11
when I started speaking out.
I didn't know if it would
have an impact or not
but I did believe in myself
and I continued speaking out.
If I wasn't able to get my
education, I think right now
I would have gotten married.
I would have, maybe, a child.
Which is what it's like
for many of my friends
who couldn't go to school.
One was in grade five
when she just suddenly
disappeared from the
school and we soon learned
that she had gotten married.
And she called me on the phone
and she told me that she had
a son, at the age of 14,
when she herself was a child.
So, without education, you
face early child marriage.
You don't get the opportunity
to follow your dream to be
a doctor, teacher,
engineer, whatever you wish.
To all teenage girls, you
have to believe in yourselves.
You have to come forward
and take full participation
in changing the world.
Whether that is through
charity work to raising funds
to raising awareness
to using social media.
You have so many resources.
So many opportunities in front of you.
Make that sure you help all other girls,
who can't go to school.
Who don't have equal opportunities.
That you help stand with
them and you help them
to get a better education.
Well, I'm turning 20 this year and
we launched the Gulmakai Network.
And the basic idea of Gulmakai
Network is to encourage
and empower local leaders
and local advocates.
And when me and my father,
we started speaking out,
we were local advocates.
And now I see that there will
be many more local advocates
who need our support, who
need our encouragement.
And that is what we are trying
to do through the Malala Fund,
to find those local leaders,
empower them, give them support,
and now I'm really happy that we have
started this work in
Pakistan, Afghanistan,
and many other countries.
To anyone who feels that they
don't have enough support,
I would say that, be your best friend.
We try to be really disappointed
with ourselves and become
hopeless and we think there
will be other people helping us.
It's good to have other
people, but don't be too much
dependent on other people.
It is your life and you
need to live it for the
best cause and for the
best purpose you can.
And if you don't, if you
don't stand with yourself,
it wouldn't work, so you have
to stand with yourself first.
