Category Famous Nobel Laureates

            Malala Yousafzai was born on 12th July 1997, in Mingora in Swat Valley, Pakistan. She grew up witnessing the miserable conditions of girl children in her native village in north-west Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times, banned girls from attending school.

            From 2009, she started blogging for the BBC about her experiences during the Taliban’s growing influence in her native region. As a young girl, Malala Yousafzai defied the Taliban in Pakistan and demanded that girls be allowed to receive an education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her.

            She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012. She survived, but underwent several surgeries in the UK, where she lives today. In addition to her schooling, she continues her work for the right of girls to education.

            She was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. In 2014, she was nominated again and won, becoming the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She was announced as the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize along with Kailash Satyarthi of India.

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            Wangari Maathai was an internationally renowned Kenyan politician and environmental activist. She served as the country’s assistant minister of environment, natural resources, and wildlife. She was born on 1st April 1940, in Neyri in Kenya.

            In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women’s rights. The movement was initiated to draw attention, and attend to environmental and domestic hardships faced by rural women in Kenya.

            Through the Green Belt Movement Maathai assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees. The Green Belt Movement encouraged the women to work together to plant trees and receive a small monetary token for their work.

            In 2004, Maathai became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai died on 25th September 2011.

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