Activist Malala Yousafzai celebrated her 21st birthday in Brazil, speaking to girls who still do not have access to education
Pakistani activist, Malala Yosafzai, who on July 12, turned 21, chose to spend the day in Brazil, doing what she has done on past birthdays: speaking to girls who still do not have access to education. "My birthday wish is that all girls can have access to safe and quality education," she tweeted from Northeast Brazil, where she celebrated her birthday by advocating for local girls' rights to attend school.
The young activist spent her pre-birthday days in the city of Salvador located in the Bahia state of Brazil, where she met with a local schoolgirl named Maikele. Maikele is part of the indigenous Tupinamba tribe from northeastern Brazil, and her father was assassinated as part of a territorial conflict, leaving behind her mother with nine children to take care of.
Malala spent the day with girls like Maikele to learn more about what barriers and challenges they face just trying to get an education. "I'm also here to highlight the issues that these young girls are facing, and that there are 1.5 million girls in Brazil who are out of school, and we see this huge disparity when it comes to the Afro-Brazilian and indigenous population in Brazil," Malala told 'Good Morning America', adding, "So something needs to be done."
"I'm here to raise my voice and stand with them and invest in local activists here," she added. "My birthday wish is that all girls can have access to safe and quality education," she further said.
Last year, Malala spent her birthday in a camp for Internally Displaced People in Iraq, where she met with 13-year-old Nayir who fled her hometown of Mosul after ISIS took over the city. Nayir said she was out of school for three years, but after beginning to attend school at the IDP camp, she says "it was as if all my hopes came back."
"I know how Nayir feels," she wrote on her website.
In the past few years, Malala has spent her birthday, trying to make a difference. "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," she wrote online.
If we look at the timeline, Malala, at age of 11, went on to become an advocate for girls' education from an average Pakistani child living under Taliban rule. By the time she was 15, she faced an assassination attempt that she fortunately survived.
When the damsel turned 17, she became the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize, while on her 19th birthday, Malala Yousafzai was declaring #YesAllGirls in Kenya, where she visited the world's largest refugee camp.
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 "Malala Yousafzai celebrates her 21st birthday in Brazil")
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