1. The award of the Nobel peace prize to the president of Liberia and a Liberian peace activist both women a few days before the election reminds us of our responsibilities....peace activist Leymah Gbowee, also from Liberia, ... awarded the Nobel peace prize on 7 October. Nobel peace prize could not have come at a better time for Liberia | Robtel Neajai Pailey | Global development | guardian.co.uk
2. The links between Gbowees Liberia and the United States are many: created by American blacks and Quakers, American currency and government based on the American Constituition, the capital named for an American President, but, the image was only superficial. How nice it would be to report a direct translation of Americas Constitutional but it was warped by class and tribal basis that prevented real democracy, and suffered many of the problems that have come to be identified with the 'dark continent.'
3. I received her book, "Mighty Be Our Powers: a Memoir," on the same day that it was announced that she had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize...Christian and Muslim women standing firm to focus attention on the constant warfare, the rapes, the murders.
a. Her reference to the children found in villages throughout Liberia, the products of perpetual warfare: I met another little girl, maybe ten, fair, with red hair. A village child- mother dead in childbirth, no father, cared for by the community, but never cherished. She didnt go to school, she walked through town bare-foot, and her nickname was pig, because she was so dirty. She spoke to me Leymah, I wish I could have learned to write like you, I wish I could read. I bought her trousers and a dress, gave her a bath and braided her hair.
4. During the Peace Talks of 2003, the women used their bodies to blockade the delegates, refusing to allow them to leave until a peace treaty had been signed.
5. While her struggle to empower women was heroic, I wish I could say the book had the same impact that the events did....
...I would suggest, perhaps Gini Reticker's passionate documentary "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" might be a better investment.
6. But the take-away, the idea that each of us must fight with the weapons that we can muster, is universal, it is eternal. The results are rarely as satisfying as Lehmah Gbowee's....but the world is made better through the effort.
2. The links between Gbowees Liberia and the United States are many: created by American blacks and Quakers, American currency and government based on the American Constituition, the capital named for an American President, but, the image was only superficial. How nice it would be to report a direct translation of Americas Constitutional but it was warped by class and tribal basis that prevented real democracy, and suffered many of the problems that have come to be identified with the 'dark continent.'
3. I received her book, "Mighty Be Our Powers: a Memoir," on the same day that it was announced that she had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize...Christian and Muslim women standing firm to focus attention on the constant warfare, the rapes, the murders.
a. Her reference to the children found in villages throughout Liberia, the products of perpetual warfare: I met another little girl, maybe ten, fair, with red hair. A village child- mother dead in childbirth, no father, cared for by the community, but never cherished. She didnt go to school, she walked through town bare-foot, and her nickname was pig, because she was so dirty. She spoke to me Leymah, I wish I could have learned to write like you, I wish I could read. I bought her trousers and a dress, gave her a bath and braided her hair.
4. During the Peace Talks of 2003, the women used their bodies to blockade the delegates, refusing to allow them to leave until a peace treaty had been signed.
5. While her struggle to empower women was heroic, I wish I could say the book had the same impact that the events did....
...I would suggest, perhaps Gini Reticker's passionate documentary "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" might be a better investment.
6. But the take-away, the idea that each of us must fight with the weapons that we can muster, is universal, it is eternal. The results are rarely as satisfying as Lehmah Gbowee's....but the world is made better through the effort.
