Malala Yousafzai Turns 20. Celebrates With Bumper Cars And Cotton Candy

Activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai turned 20 on Wednesday. And even on her big day, she continued her fight for education of girls around the world. As part of her Girl Power Trip, Malala met some girls who were forced out of school because of the ongoing ISIS crisis in Iraq. Before her trip, the activist invited girls from across the globe to send in postcards detailing the problems they face in their respective countries while trying to stay in school. She received postcards from 52 countries. Now, months before she begins college, Malala is touring the world to meet some of the girls who wrote in.
 

Spending my 20th birthday with girls in Kurdistan / Iraq. Read more https://t.co/fzLOmkv9aY & follow @MalalaFund for updates. #GirlPowerTrip pic.twitter.com/G4hW3YFPab

— Malala (@Malala) July 12, 2017

But she did take some time off to have fun as she enjoyed her last day as a teenager with some of the girls at an amusement park.
 

 

Happy birthday, Malala! #GirlPowerTrip is back! Malala is in Iraq meeting girls forced out of school by violence in Mosul and other towns. Now free, they celebrated Malala's birthday with bumper cars and cotton candy. Link in bio. Swipe [: @malinfezehai ]

A post shared by Malala Fund (@malalafund) on Jul 12, 2017 at 5:20am PDT

 

Malala spent her birthday in Iraq sharing cotton candy and riding the ferris wheel with girls forced out of school by violence in Mosul and other towns. She arrived just as the government declared victory in Mosul. "Fighting in the streets may be over, but our fight for girls continues," she says. #girlpowertrip (: @malinfezehai) Link in bio.

A post shared by Malala Fund (@malalafund) on Jul 12, 2017 at 9:29am PDT

She even shared this fun GIF on her Twitter profile.
 

On my last night as a teenager, I bumped into my new friends in Iraq. pic.twitter.com/4RfSBhoyUE

— Malala (@Malala) July 12, 2017

While the young activist enjoyed her time at the amusement park, social media chimed in with birthday wishes including a tweet from her father featuring a beautiful birthday note from Malala's mother Toor Pekai Yousafzai.
 

A beautiful card from Malala's mother, Toor Pekai. Happy birthday to @malala! pic.twitter.com/dJIEFJuR1Q

— Ziauddin Yousafzai (@ZiauddinY) July 12, 2017

The former first family of US also wished her among others.
 

Happy birthday, @Malala! https://t.co/PjdpWQm1Vt pic.twitter.com/52XQd5Ss2Y

— The Obama Foundation (@ObamaFoundation) July 12, 2017

I know you are tired of hearing this, but you inspire me, thank you. happy birthday. God bless you and your family.

— Ernesto Berrios (@ErnestoBerrios2) July 12, 2017

happy birthday malala!! she's grown up to be such an amazing and inspiring person and of course still continues to be one.

— mel (@autmnstories) July 12, 2017

Today, in 1997, a heroine was born. She fights every day for every girl to allow them to fly higher. Happy Birthday to invincible @Malala

— Giada loves Ari (@giiadaxj) July 12, 2017

Just last week, Malala Yousafzai made her debut on Twitter and gained over 100,000 followers in 30 minutes. A week later, she has nearly 800,000 of them.