Hero of Hope: Malala Yousafzai

The Story:

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997 in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Malala’s father, Ziauddin, a poet, school owner, and educational activist, taught her the value of an education at an early age. Considering her something “entirely special,” Ziauddin often let Malala stay up late at night to discuss life and politics, long after her two brothers went to bed.

In 2008, radical Taliban militants began to take infiltrate the Swat Valley. Forcing their ultra-conservative views on the society, they banned television, music, girls’ education, and forbade women from leaving the home without a male companion. They killed anyone who challenged their rule and set about blowing up hundreds of schools for girls. Incited by the injustice around her, Malala began writing a blog for the BBC detailing the horrors of life under the Taliban. She was inspired by her father’s activism and soon began to take on a more public role herself. She stopped using a pseudonym to protect her identity and, bravely, took a stand for girls’ education as Malala Yousafzai. Encouraged by her efforts, South African activist Desmond Tutu nominated her for the International Children’s Peace Prize saying, “Malala dared to stand up for herself and other girls and used national and international media to let the world know girls should also have the right to go to school.”

Despite multiple death threats at home, Malala refused to be silenced and continued going to school. On October 9, 2012, 15-year-old Malala was on a bus ride home from school with her classmates when a masked gunman stopped and boarded the bus. “Who is Malala?” the Taliban’s assassin demanded. At point blank range, he shot 3 bullets at Malala. One struck her in the forehead, tore through her eardrum, severed the nerve in her face, and lodged in her shoulder near her spine. 

The Inspiration:

The school bus rushed to the local hospital but it was only equipped with basic first aid supplies. 2 long hours passed before a helicopter could transfer Malala to a military doctor who attempted to save her life with a 5-hour operation. She fought off a severe infection, survived a plane ride to state-of-the-art facilities in England, and finally awoke from a 7-day coma. As one of Malala’s doctors, Dr. Javid Kayani, comments, “The fact that she didn’t die on the spot or very soon thereafter is to my mind nothing short of miraculous.”

Malala continued to fight. She fought to relearn to walk. She fought to relearn to smile and laugh, as the severed nerve paralyzed her face. She endured additional surgeries and learned to cope with the trauma of the attack. On her 16^th birthday, Malala showed the world her resolve when she spoke at the United Nations, declaring, “I am the same Malala.” “Let us pick up our books and our pens,” she urged the audience, “they are our most powerful weapons; education is the only solution.” Malala refused to let the attack silence her or her cause. She fought through her recovery and courageously chose to carry forward as an education activist, a spokeswoman of peace, and a beacon of hope for the world. 

Learn More:

Check out the below video to watch Diane Sawyer’s 20/20 special on Malala, “Unbreakable: One Girl Changing the World.” Also, read through some of the articles linked below to learn more about this amazing, inspiring girl that has been referred to as “Pakistan’s Mother Theresa.”

Breaking News

Articles:

• Michel Martin, NPR: "Malala Yousafzai: A 'Normal,' Yet Powerful Girl."
• Anup Kaphle, The Washington Post: "Malala Yousafzai speaks defiantly in support of education for girls around the world."
• Adam Ellick, The New York Times: "My 'Small Video Star' Fights for Her Life"
• Brian Jones, Business Insider: "16-year-old Malala Yousafzai Leaves John Stewart Speechless with Comment about Pacifism." (with video of Malala on Stewart's Daily Show)

For more, click the below picture of Malala’s book to purchase it on Amazon... If you have a chance to read it, post a comment and let us know what you think!

Hero of Hope: Ramona Pierson

The Story:

Ramona Pierson has quite an impressive résumé. She has a Masters degree in education from the University of San Francisco and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford and Palo Alto University. During the first Gulf War, she successfully built complex algorithms to improve the quality of MRIs in the battlefield and help doctors treat soldiers who sustained traumatic brain injuries. From 2003 to 2007, Ramona developed software called The Source to connect parents, teachers, and students in the Seattle public school system. The Source was a resounding success and is still in use today providing critical information and data on the performances of students and teachers. Next, Ramona took what she learned in Seattle and founded an educational startup called Synaptic Mash. After only 3 years, her company was acquired for $10 million. Most recently, she is the co-founder of a tech start-up called Declara, which currently has $5 million in funding and is backed by Peter Theil, a co-founder of PayPal and an early Facebook investor. While only a year old, Declara has shown promise in accomplishing its goal of creating an interactive social network to increase collaboration between everyone in an organization.

The Inspiration:

While Ramona’s accomplishments can speak for themselves, considering all she has had to conquer make them even more impressive. Ramona was 22-years-old when she was hit by a drunk driver while jogging with her dog. The injuries she sustained were horrific. Ramona suffered 104 broken bones, severe brain trauma, punctured lungs, and was rendered blind. She endured 18 months in a coma and over 100 surgeries.

Although Ramona had survived, defying the doctors’ expectations, she had a long and grueling recovery ahead. When she awoke, she had to relearn to speak, walk, get dressed, and navigate with a seeing-eye dog. Almost two years after the accident, she began rehabilitation at a senior citizens home in Kremmling, Colorado.  The seniors did all they could to help Ramona get better. As she reflects on her time there, “It was bittersweet, they were declining every day, and I was getting better because of them.”

Unfortunately, Ramona’s family was not in the picture and her friends had either moved on in life or had no idea where she even was. Without this crucial support network, she had to provide her own motivation, hope, and comfort while conquering the obstacles. “I just kept moving forward,” says Ramona. After 3 years in the senior citizens home, Ramona finally set out on her own. Driven by an intense fear that the world had passed her by, she enrolled in community college and began her impressive journey.

Learn More:

To learn more about Ramona Pierson and how she defied the odds, check out her amazing TED talk and some of the articles below…

Julie Bort, Business Insider: “Startup Founder Ramona Pierson Has Survived Worse Things Than Most People Can Imagine.”

Ashlee Vance, Bloomberg Businessweek: “Declara Co-Founder Ramona Pierson’s Comeback Odyssey.”

David Duran, Advocate.com: “Venture Out: What This CEO Says Can Only Be Learned From Experience.”

Hero of Hope: Dick Traum

The Story:

When Dick Traum was only 24 years old he was hit by a car and his right leg had to be amputated. Although Traum had always been an athlete and even wrestled while in college, he did not let this injury interrupt his life. As Traum remembers, “Somehow, I wasn’t upset. When you lose a leg, there’s no ambiguity…You get an artificial leg and keep going.” This determination and grit led Traum to become the first amputee to run the New York City Marathon in 1976. This was, “probably the best day of my life,” he says, “I thought, this joy can be shared with others too.”

By achieving his goal of running the Marathon and constantly challenging his limits, Traum became an inspiration for others to do the same. With Traum’s achievement in mind, Terry Fox, a 21-year-old Canadian who, due to cancer also had lost a leg, embarked on his Marathon of Hope in 1980. Fox ran more than 3,300 miles across Canada, averaging about 26 miles each day, to fundraise for cancer research. Fox passed away in 1981 but not before he raised millions of dollars and worldwide awareness for finding a cure for cancer. After competing in a race in Fox’s memory, Traum decided to start a non-profit, dubbed Achilles International, “to bring hope, inspiration, and the joys of achievement to people with disabilities.”

The Inspiration:

Achilles International has grown into a worldwide organization represented in 70 countries and has helped over 10,000 disabled athletes compete. At weekly gatherings, the organization pairs able-bodied volunteers with disabled runners, including many who use hand-crank wheelchairs. Together, they set goals and, supported by the Achilles community, train to achieve them. While the ultimate goal may be running a marathon or a 5K, the road to the finish line often starts more modestly. For one of Achilles’ runners, Andre De Mello, her first goal was walk from one of Central Park’s lampposts to another. A stroke that she suffered at age 10 made walking this distance nearly an impossible feat. However, through her hard work and encouragement from Traum and Achilles, she walked six lampposts, then eight, and, one year after she began, she completed the NYC Marathon. De Mello is one of Achilles’ many stories of success and has finished 20 marathons to date.

As Traum sums up Achilles’ mission, “We’re giving people an opportunity to achieve. When one achieves it sets off the ‘Well, if I can do this, I can probably do that too’ response. It improves the level of aspiration. When people come together it creates a cohesive group and makes everything a little better.” Traum is the definition of a Hero of Hope and he is truly an inspiration to us all.

Learn More:

For more about Dick Traum or Achilles International, check out the below articles that were used in writing this bio or follow the link to Achilles International’s website. Also, don’t forget to check out the video of Traum in his feature as a CNN Hero.

Achilles International's website

Kathleen Toner, CNN: “Amputee pushes disabled athletes to aspire for more.”

Kia Makarechi, Huffington Post: “HuffPost Greatest Person of the Day: Dr. Dick Trau Inspires Disabled, Veterans, Athletes.”

New Public Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: “Faces of Public Health: Richard Traum”