Education.
Something we all take for granted here in England.
It's free.
It's compulsory.
It's a right.
Not everyone has this privilege though, particularly girls living in the Swat district of Pakistan, girls such as Malala Yousafzai. Since 2003, the Taliban have ordered schools to close and restricted education just to boys. Malala has been bravely campaigning against this since she was just eleven-years-old, keeping a diary and creating blogs under a pseudonym for the BBC about the girls' strife.
I'm sure most of you are aware of Malala's tragic story but for those who may not be, she was shot in the head by the Taliban in October last year when she was just fourteen-years-old for going against the Taliban regime and campaigning for women's rights.
She has since been receiving life saving treatment in England, and today she spoke out:
Even after the horrific shooting, she remains fearless and is continuing to pursue her strong belief that everybody has a right to education.
Up until today I have to say, I'd only heard snippets of her story, and just placed her as part of that sad, helpless image that is the Afghanistan war, but when I saw this footage, it truly humbled me.
At fifteen, she's standing up to terrorism, representing all of the women everywhere whose voices have been stifled by the Taliban: she's changing the world.
What were you doing at fifteen? Your biggest predicament was probably what to wear to that party on Friday.
I think back to school and I'm ashamed: ashamed of all the girls who used to mess around in class, throw abuse at teachers, and skive off; ashamed of myself for all the mornings I just looked at my alarm, turned it off and rolled over back to sleep; ashamed of all of us for taking such a privilege for granted.
Nelson Mandela said 'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world' and never was there a truer example of this. Her courage, her strength and her modesty are inspirational; teenagers everywhere could learn a lot from her ...
I hope Malala's vision comes true but also that the United Nations will continue to support her in her mission.
None of us could ever relate to what the citizens of these war torn countries are suffering but I found Khaled Hosseini's novels, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, not only great reads, but particularly powerful in portraying the horrific, individual suffering, that we are ignorant to, going on on the other side of the world, the side the media doesn't portray.
