On August 31st of 2017, Malala Yousafzai arrived at Mexico City as a part of her Girl Power Trip, on which she visits different parts of the world to promote children and women’s rights, especially education-wise and raise awareness to the unfortunate situations happening. Malala was welcomed by one of the top Mexican schools, Tecnológico de Monterrey, where she was asked a series of questions by the #LeadersOfTomorrow, meaning students who are currently in the process of getting their college degree and will soon become the leaders of our countries, businesses and associations. The questions ranged from how we, as the youth, can make a change in our community, to Malala’s biggest inspirations, to which she responded Martin Luther King, Jr, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, among others; people who didn’t conform with injustices and fought for what they believed in.
As a young Mexican myself, I’m very aware of the problems we face as a society and moreover the poverty present in the country. So, as I watched Malala speak from my home through the livestream, one of the things that really stuck out to me was when she said that all politicians and leaders need to unite and make education their priority, and that is their job as heads of the country; it’s not enough to just talk about the problems or the solutions, it’s actually implementing laws and reforms that will create significant change. As for our part, it’s as simple (and important) as raising awareness and speaking out on social media, which is the biggest platform in our generation, about the issues around us.
She also talked about starting to educate girls with the idea and the fact that they have equal rights and they should be respected. Overall, Malala had some really wise things to say, but it all comes down to this: we are the youth, we are the leaders of today and tomorrow, and as cliche and lame as that may sound, it’s true. It’s up to us to make a change in the world and it doesn’t have to be a huge one. You could share your views on a problematic issue online or among your friends/family, start campaigns at your school, get involved in your country’s programs for the youth (if they have), take your time to research about oppression in your country or others just to be more educated.
I’d like to finish this off with one quote Malala said, who as we know, is all about female empowerment:
“Women are capable of doing anything, they just need to believe in themselves.”
