By Anna Graham
4/20/2017
The Pakistani Noble Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai spends her 19th birthday promoting girls’ right to education in the world’s largest refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. Visiting those in need has become a birthday tradition for Malala. In previous years, Malala opened the Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and campaigned for the release of the Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria.
You have visited many important places on your past birthdays. What made you choose Dadaab for your 19th?
“Every year on my birthday I travel to meet girls who are struggling to go to school — to stand with them and to make sure the world hears their stories. Today I am here to speak for my unheard sisters of Somalia striving for education every day.”
What are your thoughts on the potential closing of the refugee camps in Kenya?
“The government announced in May that it plans to close the refugee camp by the end of the year. They should not be forced to move. Returning any of the more than 300,000 refugees to Somalia, which is still plagued by extremist violence, should be voluntary.
What did you hope to accomplish during your visit?
“I want to make sure that these girls don’t become a generation lost, that there are alternative facilities for them to continue with their education.”
You spoke with the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta recently. What did you have to say to him?
“I requested for the President to take more time to decide on the fate of the camp, and to consider the need to provide education to the hundreds of misplaced children.”
What about your visit to Dadaab made the biggest impression on you?
“I met Rahma Hussein Noor, a 19-year-old who has struggled more than most of us can imagine just to go to school. Rahma came to Dadaab at age 13, having never set foot in a classroom. She worked hard to catch up with her classmates and, in a few years, graduated primary school. Rahma then enrolled in a secondary school in Dadaab. But when her family returned to Somalia last year, Rahma could not find another school to attend. After two months, her father said her education was over and decided to marry her to a man over 50 years old whom Rahma had never met. Rahma snuck out of her house and took an eight-day bus ride back to the refugee camp…all to continue her education.”
What are your thoughts on the current refugee crisis?
“I aim to draw attention to the global refugee crisis on behalf of the girls like Rahma that are at risk of losing their chance to go to school — and their dreams for a better future.”
What message would you like to send to the world leaders responsible for the care of these refugees?
“We cannot allow girls like Rahma to fight alone. It’s time to do right by girls.”
WAK News 