Premiere of Malala's story
Over 250 people packed into Smithfield’s Lighthouse Cinema for the Irish movie premiere of ‘He Named Me Malala’, the story of Malala Youzafsai. The event, hosted by global children’s charity Plan International Ireland, was MCed by Plan’s Ambassador Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh and tells the story of Malala Yousafzai, the victim of a Taliban attack-turned global advocate for girls’ education.
Plan International Ireland, as part of their global Because I am a Girl campaign, secured the exclusive rights to host the premiere with support of Fox Searchlight and New Ireland Assurance. “We are delighted with the interest and the turn out”, commented David Dalton, the Plan’s CEO. “Malala’s story is intrinsically linked to Plan International’s Because I am a Girl campaign, and to be able to host this event is great for us. Together, we advocate for a girl’s right to education. The world’s largest gender equality movement in Because I am a Girl, and the world’s greatest ambassador for the rights of girls. Very much a shared vision. Malala Yousafzai is a fantastic testament to the power of education, and the movie shows her as a modest, ordinary girl, who just happens to be doing some extraordinary things.”
Aged just 11, Malala Yousafzai became the subject of Taliban threats and on the afternoon of 9 October 2012, boarded her school bus in the northwest Pakistani district of Swat, and was shot. Three shots were fired. One bullet hit the left side of Yousafzai's forehead, travelled under her skin through the length of her face, and then went into her shoulder, but she survived. Nearly two years to the day Malala was shot she was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 with Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, becoming the youngest person to ever win a Nobel Prize. Now just over three years since the attack, Malala continues to advocate that free, safe, quality education is the right of every child.
“One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution”, the iconic words Malala spoke when addressing the UN General Assembly in 2013 continue to resonate today. “Malala’s energy for girls’ rights is so powerful”, commented Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh. “It’s infectious! Everyone should see this movie. Bring your children. Show them the power of education and introduce them to this extraordinary teenager. In my role as Plan Ambassador I have witnessed the challenges that girls face - denied basic rights, more likely to suffer from malnutrition than her brother, coerced to marry a man she has never met, let alone loves and more. And yet the people at Plan know the solution. It’s school. It’s learning. It is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do.”
Because I am a Girl campaign is Plan International’s global initiative to educate girls across the developing world. Across 71 countries worldwide, Plan International identify the key barriers to girls’ education – child marriage, forced labour, sexual violence, early pregnancy and more – and address them from the grassroots up.