#with malala

Malala Fund is honoured to be one of 10 organisations featured as part of the #UpgradeYourWorld movement, Microsoft’s year-long initiative inspired by the launch of Windows 10. This exciting campaign celebrates those inspiring and empowering others, led by their vision to help people achieve more through technology.

Therefore, we’re featuring stories like Merab’s, a student at NairoBits who is learning technology skills thanks to support from the Malala Fund.

This is Merab’s story:

My name is Merab. I am 19 years old. I have been raised in the slums of Kibera by a single mother in a family of seven children; two girls and five boys. I am the last born in my family.

Throughout my life there have been a lot of challenges trying to get an education because my family had trouble affording the school fees, because I was in primary school at the same time that three of my siblings were in high school. My mother worked as a house help at Mbagathi with a very minimal salary. Many times I would have to go from one school to another. There were times, in order to keep a balance, that three siblings would have to drop out of school in order to give my other siblings a chance to sit for their K.C.S.E exams. My mother struggled to look for more alternative ways in order for us to survive trying to pay for my siblings, and eventually things got so tough, that my siblings also had to look for a job. One of my siblings sold water and the other is washed motorcycles in order for them to earn a living.

I completed my K.C.S.E exams last year in 2014 and I performed very well. Since my mother could not provide enough fees for my higher learning, I felt like it was the end of my education. I had to look for a job. However, when I was in the process of looking, my elder brother told me much about the CAROLINA FOR KIBERA learning center, a place that provides support for girls, and about the programme they have for helping the girl child.

I was interested to know more, so I went to the learning center and got the chance to be linked with Nairobits. I had lost all hope in continuing my education, but after joining Nairobits, I am so grateful and I thank God I got this opportunity. I work hard every day since I know it’s the only chance I have to get knowledge and to acquire skills.

Considering I come from the slums, I now see myself as computer literate and can proudly identify as a web designer. In the future, I plan to open a place, just like Nairobits, where girls living in the slums can undergo web design training in order to increase computer literacy in Kibera. The girls will in the program will acquire employable skills, and receive a certificate so that they will be able to work in different places. My family is very proud of me. I am the only child who is computer literate with web design skills. My mother has been very supportive and really appreciates Nairobits for giving me this chance. May God bless Nairobits richly.

Girls in a classroom learning to code at the Nairobits Trust programme. 

In the poorest areas of Kenya, education is the only weapon girls like Merab have to battle poverty. The Malala Fund supports projects like NairoBits where Merab and her peers can learn technology skills to write a new future.

Two weeks ago we asked for your help to tell the story of the Malala Fund movement in 2015. You responded in the best way possible, with thoughtful memories that show just how committed you are to our mission to see every girl in school.

We are proud to debut the 2015 #withMalala Timeline. Take a look at what you helped us accomplish this year, then share it with friends and family.

Two million Syrian refugee children are out of school, their hopes for a better future disappearing each day. Tasneem was one of them.

Fleeing violence in Syria, Tasneem and her family settled in an informal camp in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. As refugees living in Lebanon, she and her friends dreamed of going back to school.

Watch how Malala Fund donors helped turn Tasneem’s education dreams into a reality.

Malala was also once a refugee, forced to flee to other parts of Pakistan as Taliban forces took over her home in Swat Valley. Malala felt passionately that we should help refugee girls whose education is at risk.

On her 18th birthday in July, Malala opened a school for Tasneem and other Syrian refugee girls living in an informal camp in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

That day, Tasneem put on her uniform, placed her books into her pink backpack and began the journey with her friend Ayat to the Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School.

Her new school is thousands of miles away from her home in Syria. But Tasneem knows she will find her future in a classroom, just like Malala.

Malala Fund is working to empower girls in places where they face the greatest barriers to education.

By Muzoon Almellehan, 17-year-old Syrian refugee

Every time Malala and I see each other, it is a time of happiness. We first met in 2014 when Malala came to visit the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, where my family was living after fleeing the war in Syria.

Later that year, I traveled to Oslo where I was so proud to watch my friend become the youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Prize. And this year, Malala and I reunited in the Azraq refugee camp, where she announced Malala Fund commitments for girls' education in the camp.

But today was the most special reunion of all, when I welcomed Malala into my new home in the United Kingdom. My family has been resettled after more than two years of living in refugee camps.

My heart is filled with so much joy. To share it with my friend Malala makes it even more wonderful.

When I first arrived with my family in Jordan, I didn’t know what to expect. We had given up so much in Syria — our home, our community, our livelihood.

The one thing I could not give up was my education. I knew that if I focused on my education, there was always hope for a better future.

I was happy to continue my studies while living in the camps — but I saw that other girls were not attending classes. Many were being married off too young, because their parents hoped that having a husband would protect them.

I did not agree with this, so I began to walk from family to family, telling parents that education is the best protection for their daughters — and asking girls to raise their voices and join me in the fight for our rights.

As I begin classes at a new school in England, I still miss Syria very much but I am also very thankful to everyone who has helped my family and me.

I also worry about the girls who are still in the refugee camps. Every day, every month they miss of school means we are more in danger of losing the gifts they have to offer to the world.

I feel proud of the work I have done for my sisters from Syria and I want to stand with Malala and continue that fight. There are still so many girls out of school. There is still so much we need to do to help.

I am hopeful that one day my family and I will be able to return to Syria. Until then, I will continue to fight for all girls to go to school.

Will you join me?

Thank you, Muzoon Almellehan

If students are going to miss history class to watch a movie, they might as well watch one about a girl making history, right?

Since the premiere of HE NAMED ME MALALA, we launched a programme in partnership with our friends at Participant Media, called Students Stand #withMalala, underwriting the cost of field trips for students across the US to see the film. As of today, 102,712 students have taken 504 field trips from 484 participating schools to see the film. Thanks to this amazing programme, these students are learning how one voice can make a difference.  

A group of students in grades 6 through 8 attend a California screening of HE NAMED ME MALALA.

Not familiar with Students Stand #withMalala? 

Here’s a snapshot:

What: Students Stand #withMalala

Where: US theatres playing HE NAMED ME MALALA

Who: Budding changemakers and advocates enrolled in grades 6 through 12

How: Students Stand #with Malala (SSWM) was a FREE school field trip to see Davis Guggenheim’s documentary film HE NAMED ME MALALA that was made available to all interested teachers and students, on a first come, first serve basis, in participating cities across the US. Through the efforts of partners and generous donors, SSWM was able to provide funds to DonorsChoose.org for free tickets and transportation — letting students, and teachers who signed up, sit back back and feel inspired by the film.

Why: HE NAMED ME MALALA proves that a person at any age can make a difference. We hope students all over the world will be inspired by Malala’s message to take action on behalf of girls globally and stand up for every girl’s right to a quality secondary education.

We received so many incredible stories of how students and teachers reacted to the film and its message. Here are a few of our favourites:

Two weeks before Giving Tuesday, the global day of giving on December 1, we gave Malala Fund supporters a challenge: Start a fundraiser to rally your friends and family for girls’ education.

Now it’s the day before the big giving day and so many of you have stepped up and accepted the challenge, proving that our supporters are seriously ROCKSTARS. (But really, one of them is an actual rockstar.)

As of today, you’ve helped raise more than $2,500 USD! But we’re only just beginning. There is ONE DAY left until Giving Tuesday, plenty of time to give to one of these wonderful campaigns — or start one of your own.

We asked our incredible supporters to share why they decided to fundraise. Read their inspiring stories (and don’t forget to check out their pages to chip in, too).

Kate Nash, UK

Singer Kate Nash is known for her powerful voice. Now she is using it to help raise money for girls’ education. Kate wrote on her fundraising page, “Recently the world has felt so fraught to me and it's made my heart feel heavy. In searching for ways to feel better/hopeful in times of trouble I looked to Malala. Malala is truly a modern day hero, she has stuck a pen up to the world's bad guys and said ‘I am not afraid’ and now she works to help girls all over the world. Education is the key to our freedom so I’m taking a stand #withMalala this Giving Tuesday.”

Shayna, US 

When Shayna was in eighth grade, she chose to do a book report on “I Am Malala.” The assignment was life-changing. “So many things that I had once taken for granted were things that Malala had to fight for,” Shayna said.

Malala continues to be a inspiration for the California teen. As a member of her school’s student council, Shayna donated her share of the council’s fundraiser to the Malala Fund. Now, as a freshman in high school with her own fundraising page, Shayna hopes to help fight for girls everywhere and make an impact, even if it’s a small one.

Lillian, US

A PhD candidate at Oregon State University, Lillian knows that her access to the highest level of education is a privilege — but believes it shouldn’t be. Education is a right. That’s why, before she began her graduate studies, Lillian worked at a school in rural Kenya. She saw first hand the transformational power education can have on one girl’s life.

Now, she’s fundraising to make a statement: “Let us become women who are strong, brave, moral leaders, empowered by education to speak the truth and bring justice and peace to a world that needs it.”

Elizabeth, Bulgaria

After studying in London and now Italy, Elizabeth started her fundraising page because she’s passionate about education issues. “I believe education should be our number one priority. It is the first step to improving one’s life and the world,” Elizabeth said.

Jared, US

Jared started his fundraiser because he’s tired of complaining. He wanted to take action. “I feel so often I’ve put my energy into engaging ignorance on social media instead of being proactive. Starting my fundraising page for Giving Tuesday through the Malala Fund felt like a small but positive step in the right direction.” 

Jared knows that men have an important role to play in closing the gender gap. “Violence is vastly generated by men. Maybe if we take our focus off arguing and instead come together on a subject we can all agree on, that girls deserve education, we can create a smarter world balance for future generations." Now that’s the definition of #HeForShe.

Check out all of the amazing fundraising pages. No matter who you support, you’ll be guaranteed that the gift will go to empower girls through education. And that is a powerful thing.