Nobel winner Malala on her birthday: 'Books not bullets'

Malala Yousafzai celebrated her 18th birthday Sunday helping Syrian refugee children in Lebanon continue their education.

She opened an all-girls school for secondary education that will serve more than 200 Syrian refugees, according to the web site for the Malala Fund.

Malala has become a voice for her Millennial generation since surviving being shot in 2012 by the Taliban in Pakistan for insisting that girls have a right to an education

In the week leading up to her birthday, she shunned traditional celebrations, asking, instead, that people across the globe use social media to push world leaders for increased education funding.

"In just a few days, I will be turning 18. This is a special moment because, for the first time in my life, I can call myself an adult. And this year, I am not asking for birthday wishes or presents. I am asking for action. Show world leaders that you believe education—not the military—is a better investment in our future."

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Teenagers, teachers, dignitaries and human-rights groups are among the supporters who responded by the thousands. Some used the hashtags #booksnotbullets or #MalalaDay.

On Monday, the Pakistani education activist and youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize recipient, walked the grounds of the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan.

According to the United Nations, there are now more than four million Syrians living as refugees in neighboring countries after fleeing their country amid a civil war. In July, the UN said the exodus has become the worst refugee crisis the agency has seen in nearly a quarter of a century.

In a speech at the Jordan camp, Malala warned that without intervention a generation of Syrian children will lack access to an education.

"There are rich countries in this world who can afford to spend money on weapons, who can afford to spend money on the war in Syria, but when it comes to education most of them have been quite stingy," she said, according to a July 13 United Nations report.

"Education is a basic human right for every child. This is why we are here to ask world leaders to treat the rest of the world's children as their own children."

Malala supporters rally on social media

Dianna M. Náñez writes about stories in Arizona and the rest of the world that make us believe in humanity, faith, hope and love. Drop her a line about your community's superheroes. You know the ones – kind, resilient, empathetic people making small miracles happen.

Follow her on Twitter: @diannananez.