Education activist Malala Yousafzai said Tuesday she will donate all the proceeds from the sale of a portrait to Nigerian charities focused on education and advocacy for girls and women.
Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by Taliban militant in Pakistan for advocating girls' right to education, said she was shocked and saddened when she learned that more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls had been kidnapped from their school by the rebel group Boko Haram in an April 15 raid.
“I am very concerned about these innocent girls — my sisters — whose only crime was going to school and learning,” the 16-year-old said.
The statement said that the Malala Fund, a charity set up to support the fight for girls’ right to education, will donate all the proceeds from the sale of a Jonathan Yeo portrait of Yousafzai.
The oil painting is estimated to be worth $60,000 to $80,000 and was given to the fund by the artist.
The painting will be auctioned on Wednesday at Christie’s in New York.
“I hope the painting reflects the slight paradox of someone with enormous power yet vulnerability and youth at the same time,” Yeo, the artist, said in a statement.