Malala Uses Her 18th Birthday to Highlight the Plight of Syrian Refugees
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai took the occasion of her 18th birthday Saturday to ask world leaders to stop "failing the Syrian people.", Yousafzai spent her birthday near the Syrian border in Lebanon overseeing the opening of the Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School, aimed at providing access to education for more than 200 Syrian refugee girls. "I am honored to mark my 18th birthday with the brave and inspiring girls of Syria," Yousafzai said in a statement. "On this day, I have a message for the leaders of this country, this region and the worldyou are failing the Syrian people, especially Syria's children. This is a heartbreaking tragedythe world's worst refugee crisis in decades.", MORE Malala in the TIME 100, The Malala Fund also announced a grant of 250,000 toward UNICEF and UNHCR efforts to meet funding shortfalls for girls' schools in a Jordanian refugee camp.