Malala yousufzai biography

I was born in Mingora, Pakistan on July 12,

Welcoming a baby girl is not always cause for celebration in Pakistan — but my father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, was determined to give me every opportunity a boy would have.

My father was a teacher and ran a girls’ school in our village.

I loved school.

But everything changed when the Taliban took control of our town in Swat Valley. The extremists banned many things — like owning a television and playing music — and enforced harsh punishments for those who defied their orders.

And they said girls could no longer go to school.

In January when I was just 11 years old, I said goodbye to my classmates, not knowing when — if ever — I would see them again.