If you're wondering how to celebrate your next birthday, you might want to take a look at how Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai just celebrated turning the big 2-0.

Having been welcomed to Twitter by fellow female activist Emma Watson earlier this week, Yousafzai turned 20 on Wednesday and, instead of holding a party or picnic in the park with friends, she spent the day at a theme park in Iraq with a group of young girls who were forced out of school in Mosul.

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The 'girl's day out' came days after the Iraqi Army officially regained control of Mosul from the Islamic State.

Malala arrived in Iraq on Monday, days after finishing her A-levels, and celebrated her big day riding carnival rides and eating candy floss with young women who had been displaced because of ISIS and forced out of their education.

Traveling to Iraq with organisation 'Girl Power Trip' which aims to raise awareness of girls' education, Malala posted several images of her day out to her charity the Malala Fund's Instagram account, and captioned one post of her with her new-found friends: 'Fighting in the streets may be over, but our fight for girls continues.'

Taking to her blog this week, the Nobel Peace Prize winner wrote: 'I chose to spend my birthday this year in Iraq to meet girls like 13-year-old Nayir. When extremists occupied Mosul, Nayir could not go to school for three years. Her family fled the city in April, when her father was captured by ISIS. They haven't heard from him since.'

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'These girls — Iraqi, Kurdish, Christian, Yazidi, Syrian — have all suffered violence and fear in their young lives,' she added.

'We should not ask children forced to flee their homes to also give up their education and their dreams,' she concluded.

A true inspiration.

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Katie O'Malley
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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.