On July 12, the day that Malala Yousafzai turned 16, she spoke at the United Nations and made the following appeal:
Dear friends, on 9 October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my friends, too. They thought that the bullets would silence us, but they failed. And out of that silence came thousands of voices.
The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions. But nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born. ... let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons.