Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old schoolgirl from Pakistan
shot by the Taliban in October because she believed girls should have the right
to go to school, released her first video statement following the attempt on
her life.
Doctors at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England,
say Malala is doing well after two major surgeries this weekend. During the
operations, surgeons covered part of her shattered skull with a titanium plate
and implanted a hearing device for her damaged inner ear.
"Today you can see that I'm alive," Malala said in
a statement, which was taped days before her surgeries.
"I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone and
today I can speak and I'm getting better day by day. It's just because of the
prayers of people, and because of these prayers, God has given me this new
life, and this is a second life. This is the new life and I want to serve the
people."
Malala was critically injured last October in Pakistan when
a gunman shot her in the head. She was transported to the Queen Elizabeth
Hospital in Birmingham shortly after she was shot. Against all odds, she began
to talk and read and walk with no signs of major brain damage.
The five-hour surgeries this weekend were her final major
medical procedures. From this point she will be continuing her recuperation
from the attack that nearly cost her life last October. The hospital says she
is stable and that her medical team is "very pleased" with her
progress. Malala is awake and talking to staff and members of her family,
according to the hospital. She will remain there for the next three to five
days. Doctors expect that she will need anywhere from nine to 18 months to
fully recover.
As Malala gains strength, so too does her cause.
"I think Malala is an inspiration for children all over
the world," Malala's father, Ziauddin, told ABC News' Bob Woodruff during
an exclusive interview in London. "When she fell, Pakistan stood and the
whole world stood and the world supported her."
Even before the assassination attempt, Malala was known as
an impassioned advocate for education, despite reported death threats. She was
just 12 when the Taliban shut down her school.
In her statement released today, she announced the creation
of a new charitable fund to support the cause she has championed.
"I want every girl, every child to be educated,"
she said in her video statement. "And for that reason, we have organized
the Malala Fund."
Vital Voices – a global non-governmental organization
advancing girls' and women's leadership through training and mentoring –
established the fund on behalf of Malala and her family.
The group worked together with supporters of the cause
including The United Nations Foundation, Girl Up, and several other
organizations and individuals, and the fund is intended to provide grants to
organizations and individuals focused on education.
Malala and her father are on the board of the Malala Fund
and she will help guide and direct projects the fund supports.
"We stand with Malala and girls around the globe who
are boldly speaking out as advocates for education and equality," said
Alyse Nelson, Vital Voices President and CEO. "When girls move forward,
they take their communities forward too."
"Our objective, our aim, and our dream is to educate
children," Ziauddin said of the new effort. "And especially girls,
because when you educate a girl, you educate the whole family. You educate a
generation. You educate all other coming children.
"It is not a privilege that we are educating them. It
is their basic right."
Some militant clerics in Pakistan have reportedly issued a
fatwa against Malala, saying they would kill her if she recovers from her
injuries. Despite this, her story has garnered international support, and just
last week, Malala was officially nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
ABC News' Nick Schifrin contributed to this report.
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