On October 21st, education activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, released her new memoir, Finding My Way. A memoir that goes beyond the story she told in I Am Malala. You may know Malala Yousafzai as the fifteen-year-old girl who survived the Taliban’s attack after standing up to them in her fight for girls’ education. Though Yousafzai has come a long way from that pivotal moment in her life, and in Finding My Way, she delves into her life after the attack-from high school to her time at college. Yousafzai shows another side of herself that the world has yet to meet.
Oxford Adventures
On October 21st, Yousafzai kicked off her book tour for Finding My Way in New York and sat down with Jenny Han (author, producer, and showrunner), in conversation about her new memoir in which I attended. The conversation was filled with laughter and deep discussion that captivated and surprised the audience. From fighting for girls’ education, Malala took her mission into her own life and attended Oxford University.
During her time at Oxford, Malala, though still wanted to focus on her education, was also discovering who she was as a person. Yousafzai was a daredevil and wanted to try everything from climbing a building to hanging out with the “bad boys.” Malala reminds everyone that she is also human and has friends that she falls back on, and when often faced with a decision to focus on classwork or hanging out with friends, most often she found herself choosing her friends.
The Real Malala
Like most people, Malala shares that she is a big fan of the series, The Summer I Turned Pretty, created by Jenny Han. When asked by Han on who she would kiss, marry, kill, The Summer I Pretty edition, she shares in a “fictional universe” she jokingly says that she would “kill Jeremiah, kiss Cam, and then marry Conrad.”
According to her friends, Malala gives the best advice for solving any problem, particularly in relationships. Malala shares this talent with the audience and gives relationship advice to a select few people, and she didn’t disappoint with her answers.
Healing
Though Malala delves into deep conversations, sharing that after smoking a bong for the first time, she found herself having flashbacks and panic attacks of the Taliban attack. This led her to seek therapy, which helped her face her past and move forward.
Activism
Malala explains how “a girl in Afghanistan is banned from her education. She cannot be in a classroom, that is the reality she has to live under.” Yousafzai continues to explain that “I was shocked, I was terrified, it scared me because I just could not imagine the trauma that Afghan people had lived through and then that they were going to witness all of that again. But in that moment, I was constantly thinking what could I do. I was calling different Prime Ministers’ and Presidents’ offices, and some of them were not even responding, especially the male politicians were not even responding. Some female… representatives and politicians actually stepped in and helped from the… U.S. and Canada all the way to Qatar, and they helped in the evacuation of so many Afghan women activists….”
Though she found that “…on social media I was seeing people saying… why don’t you do anything about it… If I could, I would not be watching this in silence right now. I would have stopped all of this in this instance.” Malala says that “…as a kid I was mad at everybody, I said… how could these terrible things happen? How could girls be banned from learning, and you guys do nothing? But I realized… that maybe that I can think about long-term changes… I support organizations, I support activists around the world, I support girls’ education in emergency places…”
A Reminder of Light
Yousafzai ends the conversation by saying that “I am sharing Finding My Way because I want my true story to be out there. It is very strange to be in the public eye and to be defined through one incident that happens in your life for so long. The story of the Malala out there is that I am a fifteen year old girl who was shot by the Taliban, but I am so much more than that and I want to show…[my] true self…”
Malala wants those who “feels like there is no way out of the situation they are facing, I want them to know that I went through the exact same feelings and I found myself in a very dark place when I was going through the mental health trauma and I wish that somebody had told me that it’s going to be okay, so I want you to know that it will be okay and you will find your way through it. Ask for help. Do not hesitate in asking for help-talk to your friends, get professional help, I know you will find that light….”
Finding My Way is out now!
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