The double life of Malala Yousafzai, schoolgirl and saviour of the world
Pakistani activist continues to reconcile her extraordinary place in the spotlight with her very normal teenage existence in central England, as a new documentary shows
This is evidently no ordinary interview. I've been told to arrive at a London hotel, where I will be driven to an undisclosed location - a small production office in northwest London. Burly security men are evident as soon as I arrive. But then perhaps it's no surprise. I am here to meet Malala Yousafzai, the 18-year-old Pakistani who became a target of the Taliban after she spoke out about girls' rights for education.
Raised in the lush Swat Valley, in the country's Northwest Frontier province, Malala was yet to hit her teens when she was encouraged by her father to write a blog for the BBC under a pseudonym about life under Taliban rule.
Gradually, she began to speak in public until, on October 9, 2012, she was attacked by a gunman. He fired three shots - one hitting the left side of her forehead, travelling the length of her face and into her shoulder.
Miraculously, she survived. Despite widespread condemnation of the attack, the Taliban vowed to kill Malala and her father, Ziauddin.
Today, wrapped in a red and gold dupatta, an aura of gentle defiance and determination radiates from her, as she sits quietly in a dimly lit room.
"The little fear I had of death, of being killed, that is gone now," she says. "I strongly believe that no one can stop me." The issues she campaigns for are too important, she says. "I could stop. Or I could say, 'No, you have seen the worst moment in your life and you have seen the worst that you could ever imagine. Now you choose to continue.' And I chose to continue."