Malala Yousafzai Vows to Keep Fighting in First Interview After Taliban Attack

In her first video statement since she was shot and nearly killed by the Taliban in October over her support of girls’ education, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai says she will continue the campaign that led to her being attacked. The Pakistani schoolgirl’s statement was released by a PR firm just hours after surgery to reconstruct the teen’s skull at a British hospital was deemed a success.

“Today you can see that I am alive,” the former Truthdigger of the Week says, adding that after undergoing weeks of treatment at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital she is “getting better, day by day”

Yousafzai goes on to thank her supporters, saying that her recovery is “because of the prayers of people. Because all people–men, women, children–all of them have prayed for me. And because of all these prayers God has given me this new life, a second life.”

She concludes by vowing to continue fighting for the very cause that made her a target of the Taliban. “I want to serve. I want to serve the people,” Yousafzai says in the video. “I want every girl, every child, to be educated. For that reason, we have organized the Malala Fund.”

The Malala Fund, which was launched in late 2012 with a $10 million donation from Pakistan, is a charity that supports girls’ education.

The Associated Press:

Malala drew the world’s attention when she was shot in the head by Taliban militants on Oct. 9 while on her way home from school in northwestern Pakistan. The Islamist group said it targeted her because she promoted girls’ education and “Western thinking” and criticized the militant group’s behavior when it took over the scenic Swat Valley where she lived.

The shooting sparked outrage in Pakistan and many other countries, and her story has captured global attention for the struggle for women’s rights in her homeland. In a sign of her impact, the teen made the shortlist for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2012.

…Malala was airlifted to Britain from Pakistan in October to receive specialized medical care and protection against further Taliban threats. She is expected to remain in the U.K. for some time as her father, Ziauddin, has secured a post with the Pakistani consulate in the English city of Birmingham.

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— Posted by Tracy Bloom.