Kurdish teen sends Girl Power Trip postcard to Malala — and gets a response in person!
Malala fulfills 16-year-old Zuhdya’s dream of meeting her role model
Last month, 16-year-old Zuhdya sent Malala a Girl Power Trip postcard from the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. Zuhdya wrote that she hoped to meet Malala one day so she could hug her and say thank you for her support of girls’ education. This week, Zuhdya got her wish.
When Malala stopped in Iraq on her Girl Power Trip, she invited Zuhdya to spend the evening with her at a local amusement park. Mosul evacuees, Christian IDPs and other Kurdish girls also participated in the fun. They went on the ferris wheel, rode the carousel, drove bumper cars and ate cotton candy.
In April, Malala began her Girl Power Trip to meet with girls around the world and fight for their futures. With more than 130 million girls out of school today, Malala can’t possibly meet with all of them — so she asked girls around the world to send her postcards with their messages about girls’ education.
She received over 500 postcards from more than 50 countries. Malala had the chance to address some of her favourites online. But knowing that she planned to visit Iraq on her birthday, Malala decided to respond to Zuhdya’s message in person.
When Zuhdya found out she would get to meet Malala in person, she started crying. Her mom asked her what was wrong — Zuhdya said she couldn’t speak she was so happy.
Zuhdya is enrolled in school, although she knows many girls in rural Kurdish communities who aren’t as fortunate. Zuhdya’s mother left school at 14 years old, when she was forced her to marry. She loved school and remains adamant that her daughters, Zuhdya and her 19-year-old sister Razya, get the education she never did. Zuhdya’s favorite subjects in school are biology and English.
While girls can go to school in her city, Zuhdya says they aren’t allowed to do everything they want to. She can’t go to the stadium and play soccer like the boys. She would love to learn tennis and karate and believes one day, girls will have the same opportunities as boys.
When she’s older, Zuhdya hopes to be to be a translator so she can “understand more people and do with more people.” Inspired by Malala, she wants to use her education to be a “woman who can change the world and help other girls.”
As Zuhdya said in her postcard to Malala, there’s no stronger power than girl power so we know she’ll accomplish amazing things!
Malala is currently on her Girl Power Trip to meet with girls around the world like Zuhdya and listen to their stories. While Malala can’t meet with every girl, she can hear from them.
