You are brave women coping in these difficult times, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai told the female victims of the deadly floods in Pakistan during her visit on Wednesday to Sindh's Dadu.
Yousafzai landed in Karachi a day earlier with her parents on her second visit to Pakistan since she was shot in the head at point-blank range by Taliban gunmen in October 2012 at the age of 15 as she was returning from her school in the Swat Valley.
The Pakistani education rights icon last visited the country nearly four years ago in 2018. During her current trip to Pakistan, Yousafzai aims to help the flood victims of Sindh.
On Wednesday, Sindh chief minister's spokesperson Abdul Rasheed Chana said Yousafzai visited Juhi, a flood-affected area of Dadu district, where she interacted with the flood affectees.
The flood-affected women welcomed her to their camp as Malala sat with the women and listened to their problems and encouraged them.
She commended their bravery during this difficult time.
Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah, meanwhile, in a briefing to Yousafzai, said that there is still water in many areas. After draining the water, more surveys will be done to determine the damage to the schools in the area, he said.
He said that the education of two million children in 12,000 schools has been affected, on which Yousafzai expressed concern.
Yousafzai was accompanied by Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah and social worker and founder of Zindagi Trust Shehzad Roy.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah appreciated Yousafzai's visit to the flood-hit areas, saying her visit will raise the voice of a humanitarian crisis in Sindh to the world.
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