Malala Yousafzai spends 19th birthday in world's largest refugee camp

By Kim Rogers - Staff

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai’s birthday wish this year is for the world to say #YesAllGirls.

According to a tweet from her organization, the Malala Fund, she is in Kenya visiting Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, to draw attention to the global refugee crisis and its effects on women’s access to education.

Dadaab refugee camp, located near the Kenyan border to Somalia, houses more than 300,000 refugees displaced by famine and war.

In a blog post from the camp, Yousafzai reminded the world of a global agreement almost a year ago to guarantee every child 12 years of education. After speaking with the girls in Dadaab and camps like it who are falling through the cracks, she asked: “Where do we stand?”

The visit continues Yousafzai’s birthday tradition of meeting with girls all over the world struggling to get an education.

She spent her birthday last year in Lebanon building a school for Syrian refugee girls.

The Pakistani activist hopes her efforts will inspire others to join the fight to provide girls worldwide with equal access to education.