Malala brings girls’ voices to the halls of the UN
Girl advocates from Iraq and the Congo join Malala at the UN to stand up for girls’ education.
When Malala began her Girl Power Trip in April, she hoped to meet girls from around the world and learn about barriers to education in their communities. Over the next six months, she heard from incredible young women fighting to go to school in Africa, North America, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe.
To conclude her Girl Power Trip, Malala invited two girls she met during her travels to join her at the UN. Marie Claire, a refugee from the Congo, and Najlaa, a Yazidi teen from Iraq, spent the week with Malala advocating for girls’ education. As Malala previously stated: “We will not accept a world where decisions about our future are made in rooms girls cannot enter.”
This week, Marie Claire and Najlaa spoke to world leaders and encouraged them to invest in girls’ education. Despite promises from presidents and prime ministers to increase support to girls’ education, funding in most countries has decreased over the last two years. The girls shared how they overcame child marriage, conflict and poverty just to go to school. They asked that leaders prioritise their futures — and the futures of more than 130 million out-of-school girls.
Below are the transcripts from the UN when Marie Claire and Najlaa shared their stories in their own words.
Marie Claire’s speech
My name is Marie Claire, I am 20 years old. Growing up in the Congo, there was no school to go to — our main focus was staying away from war.
The conflict became so violent that my family fled as refugees to Zambia. There, I had the chance to go to school for the first time in my life at age 11. But even then, we were not safe.
As outsiders, our family faced harassment.
One night, armed rebels broke into our house with the intent to take a life. We watched as our mother was killed. She sacrificed herself to protect me and my siblings.
After the attack we moved again and for the next eight years I was in and out of school. I didn’t become a full time student until we moved to the United States in 2015.
Conflict changed my life forever, but it didn’t stop me from moving forward. I became the first person in my family to graduate from high school and am now in university studying to become a nurse.
Every girl — refugee or not — deserves access to a safe, quality education.
It’s time for leaders in this room to listen and start investing in girls — the leaders of tomorrow.
Najlaa’s speech
My name is Najlaa. I am 19 years old. I am Yazidi from Iraq.
When I was 14 years old, I was taken out of school and told that I must marry.
I didn’t know anything about the man — I didn’t ask. Because I knew that I was too young.
I didn’t want to leave school and abandon my dreams of becoming a journalist.
I tried for weeks to convince my parents that I was too young. It didn’t work. So I ran away on my wedding day — still in my wedding dress. I took off my heels so I could run faster.
My education since then has not been easy. Terrorists invaded our village and my family had to flee.
I am now back in school and still determined to travel the world as a journalist.
I don’t want any other girl to go through the same as me. Not all of them can fight as hard as I did.
I want all girls to have education that they deserve, to become successful women first.
Girls should be students and not brides. This is my message for leaders.
Each girl has a unique story to tell — and their voices are our most powerful weapons in the fight for education and equality.
Help Malala amplify girls’ voices — send her a postcard about girls’ education in your community.
