Greta Thunberg snaps heartwarming photo with her hero, education activist Malala Yousafzai
Role models have role models, too.
Climate change activist Greta Thunberg met Malala Yousafzai Tuesday and posted a picture on Twitter to commemorate the occasion. In her post, she referred to Yousafzai as her role model.
Yousafzai also shared the photo on Twitter saying, “she’s the only friend I’d skip school for.”
Thunberg reached out to Yousafzai, a 22-year-old women’s education advocate, during a trip to the United Kingdom for a school protest later this week, according to the Huffington Post. The two met at the University of Oxford, where Yousafzai is a student.
“You guys wanna strike today?”: These activists are too young to vote in 2020 election, but climate change has them fed up
Yousafzai was the youngest person to have won a Nobel Peace Prize, winning in 2014 at age 17. She was awarded the coveted prize for her “struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” Thunberg was among the front-runners for the award in 2019 but ultimately lost out to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.
Yousafzai began her fight for girls' right to an education after the Taliban attempted to assassinate her on the bus home from school in Pakistan in 2012.
However, she has since expanded her activism, focusing lately on how homelessness limits young women’s access to education opportunities. She partnered with a homelessness charity to plan an international “sleep-out” event in December, am event in which people around the world were encouraged to sleep on the streets in solidarity with those who are homeless.
Thunberg has stuck to her roots and recently opened the Greta Thunberg Foundation with money from the 2019 Right Livelihood Award. The purpose of the nonprofit “is to promote ecological and social sustainability as well as mental health,” according to the Right Livelihood Foundation.
Contributing: Associated Press. Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Greta Thunberg meets Malala Yousafzai, tweets heartwarming photo
