Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai donates latest prize to UNRWA
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai has announced she is donating $50,000 to help rebuild UNRWA schools damaged
during the recent fighting in Gaza. Malala made the announcement in Stockholm, where she accepted the prestigious
World's Children's Prize. The amount represents all the prize money.
Malala's remarks in Stockholm on Wednesday, October 29:
I am honored to announce all my World’s Children’s Prize money will go to help students and schools in an especially
difficult place – in Gaza.
I am donating these funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which is performing
heroic work to serve children in Gaza, in very difficult circumstances.
The needs are overwhelming – more than half of Gaza’s population is under 18 years of age. They want and deserve quality
education, hope and real opportunities to build a future.
This funding will help rebuild the 83 schools damaged during the recent conflict. Innocent Palestinian children have
suffered terribly and for too long. We must all work to ensure Palestinian boys and girls, and all children everywhere,
receive a quality education in a safe environment. Because without education, there will never be peace. Let us stand
together for peace and education because together we are more powerful.
UNRWA is deeply touched by Malala’s decision to donate her prize money to rebuilding UNRWA schools in Gaza. Recognition
by Malala, who has shown so much personal courage and has campaigned so valiantly for the essential right of a child to
receive an education, will lift the spirits of a quarter of a million UNRWA students in Gaza and boost the morale of our
more than 9,000 teaching staff there.
UNRWA shares with Malala the profound belief in the importance of education as a means to lift young girls and boys out
of isolation, exclusion or oppression. Acquiring skills and knowledge to improve prospects for the future is profoundly
ingrained in the Palestinian consciousness. She is a symbol of the boundless potential that lies within each and every
child on earth, and an inspiration to us all.
Thank you, Malala! If you’re feeling inspired by Malala’s generosity, you can make a tax-deductible donation to our Gaza emergency campaign.
ENDS