Malala Yousafzai, global education campaigner: I did not know who I was

I was 15 years old and I did not know who I was


Madina Maishanu speaks to Malala Yousafzai, the global education
activist, about the public life that has defined her, and her
search for her own identity.


In a deeply personal interview, Malala Yousafzai reveals the
legacy of her teenage years - as the spirited girl who took on
the Taliban and nearly lost her life, then the Nobel
Prize-winning advocate for girls everywhere to go to school.
People think they know you, she says, but I did not know who I
was.


Now, aged 28, she reveals the lasting impact on her mental health
and how she’s been helped by therapy and by friendship, putting
the loneliness of her teens behind her.


For Malala Yousafzai, the mission of her life remains ensuring
every girl has the right to go to school, a goal that has driven
her since she was a child growing up in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.
Critical of the ruling Taliban, she survived an assassination
attempt at their hands before fleeing to England to continue her
education, ultimately at Oxford University.


Thank you to Madina Maishanu and Yousef Eldin for their help in
making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations
with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best
interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service,
Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The
Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or
wherever you get your podcasts.


Presenter: Madina Maishanu Producers: Yousef Eldin, Lucy Sheppard
and Farhana Haider Editor: Justine Lang


Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the
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(Image: Malala Yousafzai Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
for IMDb)