Malala Yousafzai celebrates her birthday on July 12. Malala is no ordinary 21-year-old. Born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan, Malala became a symbol of resistance against the Taliban oppression in 2012. The young 15-year-old was shot twice in the head and neck by extremists. And her only crime was that she and her father were at the forefront of a revolution to advocate education for girls in Pakistan. This did not go down well with the hardliners in the region who were keen on shutting down schools as part of the Sharia agenda. Miraculously, the girl survived to tell the tale to the world.