Fondly reminiscing about her eventful childhood in the scenic Shangla district of Malakand Division, her hometown, Pakistan’s youngest Nobel laureate, Malala Yousafzai, paid heartfelt tribute to her late grandmother.

Malala, a staunch advocate for girls’ education, returned to her village Barkana in Shangla on Wednesday, marking her first visit in 13 years since surviving an assassination attempt by militants.

“When I was a child, my family spent every holiday in a place called Shangla, a cluster of villages high in the Hindu Kush mountain range,” Malala wrote in an Instagram post.

This visit marks her first return to Shangla since surviving a shooting in 2012. She last visited Pakistan in 2018 but was unable to travel to her home village at the time.

She was a 15-year-old schoolgirl when Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants boarded a bus and shot her in the head.

“My mom and dad grew up in Shangla, and most of our relatives still live there today.”

A nostalgic Malala felt overwhelmed by the cherished memories of her arriving in Shangla after long bus rides, rushing to her grandmother’s house, and spending time by the river with her young relatives.

“In the spring, my cousins and I picked green plums off the trees and ate them by the riverbank. It felt like a different world from the crowded city where I lived.”

She, however, admitted that a lot had changed since she moved overseas. “It felt like a different world from the crowded city where I lived,” she wrote.

“But some of my family members have passed away, including my beloved grandmother who died in 2020,” she added. “Though I miss her every day, walking the hills that she loved and visiting her resting place helped me feel a little closer to her again.”

During her time in Shangla, she reconnected with her kin and reflected on the lasting bond she shared with her hometown. Her journey back to Shangla highlights not only her personal ties to the region but also her resilience and continued advocacy for education in Pakistan.

She was accompanied by her father, husband and brother for the high-security visit to her hometown by helicopter which lasted just three hours.

The area was sealed off for several hours to provide security for her visit on Wednesday, which included a stop at local education projects backed by her Malala Fund.

“Her visit was kept highly secret to avoid any untoward incidents,” a senior administration official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“Even the locals were unaware of her plans to visit.”

She went on to become an education activist and the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner at age 17.