Malala Yousafzai turned 19 today.

How does someone, who has overcome near death and has gone onto becoming an activist to create a better world for girls and women, celebrate their birthday? For Malala, she chose to celebrate her birthday by visiting the world’s largest refugee camp in Kenya.

Malala visited the Dadaab refugee camp that is home to over 300,000 people to draw attention to the global migrant crisis there and the harsh conditions facing those who live there. “I am here to speak for my unheard sisters of Somalia striving for education every day,” she told media there.

Malala is someone who I really look up to. On the days where I think I have it rough, I think back to what she has gone through and instantly I know I have a really good life. Being raised by a single mom, I have seen firsthand the struggles women go through when they are not given a quality education. My mother had dreamed of continuing her education but her family pulled her out at a young age and my mom spent her days learning how to take care of a home. I know deep in my heart that had her family known how hard her life would be in Canada without an education, they would have allowed her to continue. But that’s the thing about education—it’s never a bad decision. An educated woman, regardless of her circumstances, is a powerful woman. After not being afforded the opportunity to go to school, my mom forced me to do well in school and to get my University degree. At the time I didn’t really understand the full importance of it, but now having travelled around the world and seeing first hand what lives are like for women in some parts, I REALLY appreciate and am grateful for all the educational opportunities I was provided. This is why I use this blog and my social media to share my stories with you and try to encourage you to be the best version of yourself. I love being a boss babe and having full control over my life and that’s why I support and admire Malala.

“We will not accept a world where decisions about our future are made in rooms girls cannot enter”—Malala.

This quote from her says it all. We still live in a world where girls do not have the freedom to make their decisions and instead must rely on their parents or husband or some other male figure to make it for them. It’s not because they CAN’T make a decision—it’s because they are not ALLOWED to. Imagine living a life where just because you are a woman that you do not get to choose where you go, if you are educated, how you dress, who you meet, if and where you work, or who you marry. It’s not even family members making these decisions–we still live in a world where the lawmakers making decisions and creating laws FOR women are MEN.

We must push for equality for women and access to education. How can YOU help? By encouraging the women in YOUR life to get educated and independent. Regardless of your circumstances, send her to school. Help build up her confidence. Bring her books to read. Talk to her about current affairs. Let her see what the world is really like.

Because at the end of the day, the greatest gift you can give a woman is her education. This is something that will help her for the REST of her life and will help her overcome life’s challenges. Just ask yourself, if in the future something were to happen to you, would the women in your life be okay? Meaning, would they be able to take on the world and survive without you? If the answer is no, then what are you waiting for? Empower them now!

For Malala to spend her birthday by drawing attention to the refugee camp is symbolic to us all. We may not be able to fly into a refugee camp like her but we can create a better world by educating our children. We teach our sons how to respect and treat a woman and we teach our girls how she should be treated and respected. The same opportunities given to our sons must be given to our daughters. It’s the only way this inequality will ever become a thing of the past–in that aspect, we are all Malala.

Happy birthday Malala and thank you for being a role model to me and to people around the world. I can’t wait to see what else you accomplish!

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