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12 year-old writes song to inspire and raise awareness about Malala Yousafzai

January 11, 2013

12 year-old Samantha Anne Martin recently heard the story of Malala Yousafzai, the 15 year-old Pakistani female activist who was shot by the Taliban on her way home from school. Inspired by Malala's courage and fight for women's rights, Samantha wrote an original song and recorded a music video with the help of her father.

Malala Yousafzai spoke out against the Taliban for their frequent ban of girls attending school, as well as many other human rights she deserved, yet was denied. She is currently recovering from the near fatal shot at a hospital located in England.

Martin named her tune Ricochet(Malala's Song) and uploaded the inspirational song to iTunes. ALL of the money raised from iTunes purchases is donated to the Malala Fund. The "Malala Fund for Girls' Right to Education" aims at raising billions of dollars to ensure that all girls go to school by 2015 in line with United Nations Millennium goals.

The video, included at the end of this article, is continuing to gain momentum and popularity on YouTube. The song was even played in full at the Holiday Bowl, a nationally televised college football game between Baylor and UCLA.

Halfway across the world, Malala's father got word about the video and watched it with his daughter. In a recent email to Martin, Malala's father wrote that he could not control his tears. Martin was beyond excited about the response.

"Her family was so touched that they contacted us to say thank you and told us that it made them cry," Martin wrote in an email to SunnySkyz.

Martin is also trying to earn Malala a nominatation for the Nobel Peace Prize. In her video, she asks that you visit change.org/malala and sign the petition.