An entry for a normal highschooler’s what-I-did-on-my-summer-vacation diary: visit Capitol Hill with the fam, pose for cheesy pics, roll eyes.
But what if we’re talking about a Nobel Prize-winning teen whose activism on behalf of girls’ rights has won her worldwide fame? Then it goes a little more like this: meet with lawmakers and top female staffers, lobby for increased funding for girls’ education, take photos that will go on said congresspeople’s brag walls.
Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani 17 year-old who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban, spent part of her break from high school making the rounds on the Hill on Tuesday, where the slate of offices she visited included those of Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), and Reps. Kay Granger (R-Tex.) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.).
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With dad Ziauddin Yousafzai at her side, the co-founder of the the Malala Fund urged lawmakers to boost funding for girls’ secondary education through first lady Michelle Obama’s initiative, Let Girls Learn.
“It is time that a bold and clear commitment is made by the U.S. to increase funding and support governments around the world to provide 12 years of free primary and secondary education for everyone by 2030,” she said in a statement ahead of her lobbying visit.
Kids these days — so demanding.
We caught up with Yousafzai after the day of meetings, and she reported that the experience had been “amazing.” She’s hopeful that the lawmakers heard her message (her tactic of asking them what they’d want for their own children sounds like a pretty effective one), but says she’ll wait to see what unfolds.
“I hope for a positive outcome,” she says. If not, “I will come again and again and again.”
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