Najlaa is an ordinary teenager with extraordinary strength to fight for her rights
The 19-year-old from Northern Iraq joined Malala at the UN to tell her story and advocate for girls.
Phone in hand, wearing headphones and scrolling through a stream of photos on Facebook — Najlaa appears like an everyday teenager. She loves social media, selfies, celebrities and even tattoos. “One day I’ll get a tattoo on my arm of music notes,” she says. Why? “Because I want to.”
But Najlaa has had a life that is far from normal.
For as long as she can remember, she has stood up for what she wants — even if it meant going against her family’s wishes. When they tried to marry her off at 14 years old, she ran away on her wedding day still in her dress. Najlaa wanted to become a journalist and she knew that early marriage would come in the way of her education and ultimately her dream.
Malala met Najlaa when she stopped in Iraq during her Girl Power Trip this summer. When they spoke, Najlaa told Malala about the many barriers she faced in going to school: her family, child marriage and even ISIS.
Najlaa is Yazidi, a religious minority persecuted by ISIS since 2014. More than 5,500 Yazidis have been killed in Iraq and 90,000 others were forced to leave the country. When ISIS invaded her village, Najlaa was shot in the hand and her family decided to flee.
Now Najlaa is free from the threat of ISIS and happy to be in school. Still, she knows that there are girls around the world who continue to be forced out of the classroom because of similar challenges. And it’s those girls who Najlaa was speaking for when she arrived in New York.
“Girls should be students and not brides. This is my message for leaders,” she said in front of presidents and prime ministers. Speaking to a crowd of hundreds of powerful people at the United Nations was nerve-wracking, but Najlaa found the courage to stand up. “I’m with girls’ education. I’m with girls who are married at early age. I want to help girls like me in Iraq, in Syria, everywhere,” she said.
Najlaa believes that every girl has a story worth sharing. In telling her own story, she gained confidence. She offered this advice to girls: “If you face problems, just be confident. You’ll make it if you say you’ll make it.”
Najlaa’s rock-solid attitude may have helped calm her nerves in front of powerful leaders — but that didn’t prepare her for her favourite moment of the trip: meeting her all-time “dearest” actress Priyanka Chopra. When the Bollywood star spoke at the same UN event as her, Najlaa was in disbelief, nudging the people around her to reassure that it really was Priyanka.
When she wasn’t advocating for girls’ education — or gushing about her favourite celebrities, Najlaa explored New York, taking in Times Square, Bryant Park and heading to the top of the Empire State Building and seeing a Broadway show. Najlaa also visited Buzzfeed’s headquarters, where the budding journalist had the opportunity to speak with staff and learn about their work.
After spending a week in New York City, this brave and unapologetic teenager plans to complete her studies so she can go to university and become a journalist. “Survivors [of war] need help. I will be a journalist to discover life and help people,” she says.
Each girl has a unique story to tell — and their voices are our strongest weapons in the fight for education and equality. Given the right resources to complete quality education, girls can solve our most pressing problems like climate change and poverty.
Help Malala amplify girls’ voices — send her a postcard about girls’ education in your community.
