London, Apr 5 : Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban, has announced the first grant of USD 45,000 from the Malala Fund for girls' education to an unnamed organisation in Pakistan's Swat Valley.
The grant has been given to support the education of 40 girls, aged five to 12, who would otherwise be forced into domestic labour.
“Announcing the first grant of the Malala Fund is the happiest moment in my life. I invite all of you to support the Malala Fund and let us turn the education of 40 girls into 40 million girls,” the 15-year-old said in a video message for the Women in the World summit in New York.
The video was introduced by Hollywood star and UN special envoy Angelina Jolie, who also pledged a donation of USD 200,000 for the fund.
“Here's what they [Taliban] accomplished. They shot her point-blank range in the head - and made her stronger. The brutal attempt to silence her voice made it stronger,” Jolie said at the summit.
Malala, who now attends Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, had set up the Malala Fund following the Taliban's assassination attempt back in October 2012 for asserting her right to go to school.
The fund is run by a board of trustees, including Malala and her family, with the support of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, founded by former US secretary of state Hilary Clinton.
After the attack, Malala was airlifted to the UK and spent hours undergoing major surgeries at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where surgeons tried to repair the damage caused by a bullet that grazed her brain.
She made an amazing recovery and joined Birmingham's oldest girls' schools in March, nearly five months after the attack.
