Auteur/autrice : Heidi Barathieu-Brun

Linked with The Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association EWLA.

See also the WSF World Social Forum 2007, Kenya.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « My goal is to eradicate all forms of discrimination against women and to ensure equal opportunities for women in education, employment and public spheres ».

She says also: « The position of women (in Ethiopia) is very difficult – economically, politically and socially … They have no voice, they have no economic power, they have no social power, and they are not organised. They cannot put pressure on the government … Uganda is a good place, Tanzania is much better than us, South Africa is much better ». (full text).

Read: BBC, Ethiopia: Revenge of the abducted bride.

Read: Should Women Forge Armed Struggle Against Abduction!? By Selamawit Seyoum.

Read: Advocacy for Legal Reform for Safe Abortion.

Read: Interview with peacewomen.

Meaza Ashenafi – Ethiopia

She works for the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association EWLA,
and for the Ethiopian Constitution Commission of the Interim Government (ECCIG).

Listen to NPR-audio: ‘Fighting for Women’s Rights in Africa‘.

And she says: « There is no specific law talking about domestic violence, so we need laws there; there is no law on workplace sexual harassment. Also, we have a law on affirmative action. There is a provision under the constitution which says that women are entitled to affirmative action, but there are gaps in the law itself …

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See also the WSF World Social Forum 2007, Kenya.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « I receive more than I give. In the hospice I feel God’s presence. I see him in Emmanuel’s smile, feel him at Aimé’s bedside, and recognize him in the gestures of blind Felix. This is my place ».

She says also: « It was in Abidjan in 2002. I was sitting in my car, when I felt irritated by a sickly smell, like that of a rotting animal. I got out of the car to find out where the irritating smell was emanating from. I found a man lying in a hole near the street, wrapped in a garbage bag. He was totally dehydrated. Although ants were crawling out of his ears and mouth, he was still breathing. When he finally looked at me I asked him how long he had been lying there, and he answered that he did not know. As I left to get help he whispered, ‘I am Monsieur René.’ The slum dwellers knew that he had been lying there for at least ten days and had occasionally brought him food and water. With their help, we took René to an outpatient clinic, where he stayed for a week. This is what inspired me to set up a hospital for dying Aids victims ».

See her Homepage Lotti Latrous.

See also the Fondation Lotti Latrous.

Lotti Latrous – Côte d’Ivoire

Lotti Latrous was born in 1953. She has lived in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d’Ivoire, where she did volunteer work at the local Mother Theresa Hospital. The contrast between the miseries she witnessed in Abidjan and her privileged life inspired her to found an outpatient clinic in Adjouffou, a slum in Abidjan.

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Linked with Twishakira amahoro, and with Search for common ground SFCG.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

See also the WSF World Social Forum 2007, Kenya.

She says: « I know no greater joy than meeting a friend whom I had believed was dead ».

Léonie Barakomeza – Burundi

She works for Twishakira amahoro, and for Search for Common Ground Burundi.

After civil war had broken out in Burundi, Léonie Barakomeza founded ? together with former Hutu neighbor Yvonne Ryakiye and other women ? the self-help organization Twishakira amahoro, which means ?We want peace?. The women of the peace organisation have helped in reconstructing war-damaged houses.
Over time, the river Kanyosha has dug a deep gorge through the fertile hills of Bujumbura. An equally deep rift of fear and hatred hindered the people living on its banks to use the shallow ford near Busoro.

Continuer la lecture de « Léonie Barakomeza – Burundi »

See also the WSF World Social Forum 2007, Kenya.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « We can and must root ourselves on the long tradition of peace making that women have in Africa! »

She says also: « I cannot stand violence, so I have to do something against it. Even as a child I could not tolerate injustice ».

And she says: « It is high time we played down tribal differences, which the colonial powers stressed for their own interest. Tutsis and Hutus lived in peace before and can do it again! »

Colette Samoya Kirura – Burundi

She works for Bangwe and Dialogue, a peace organization.

Colette Samoya Kirura, born 1952, is a pioneer. Politically active even in her student days, she was elected to parliament between 1982 and 1987, one of only two women. From 1992 to 1994 she served as Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, where she dedicated herself to the defence of human rights. She headed the Union des Femmes Burundaises, and in 1998 she founded the peace organization Bangwe and Dialogue. It unites women of Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, strengthening their power in the reconciliation process and providing education, especially for displaced people. Colette does not like to mention her ethnic affiliation.

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Linked with InWEnt.

See also the WSF World Social Forum 2007, Kenya.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « My dream is to see all people smiling. Not because they have to, but because it comes from within. »

She says also: « I saw people walking through Kigali, many of them carrying weapons, and I had the impression that they were mummies. Dead. Without any expression in their eyes. They moved like machines, without perceptible feelings ».

And she says: « In Rwanda interpersonal trust was completely destroyed. People could not share their feelings with their neighbors, often not even with their brothers and sisters. So we needed a program in which individuals could open up to a confidant. These should be people with a relationship. For example, friendships exist among classmates; in a group of women who work on the same farm; or in a groups of street children ».

And she laments: « The culture of silence and mistrust is developed from an early age. Alread at two years old children were taught, that they should never say what they were thinking and never show their feelings. This takes away peoples’ ability to think freely ».

Martine Bonny Dikongue – Rwanda

She works for Inser, and for Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung GmbH InWEnt.

Read: Development Partnership with InWEnt.

Martine Bonny Dikongue from Cameroon was born in 1960. She is an economist and trainer for non-violent conflict resolution. She helps traumatized survivors of the Rwanda genocide to re-learn to trust people. She works with teachers and other professionals in a project financed by the German government and the Protestant Church of Rwanda.

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Linked with the International Council for Global Initiatives, and with the African Regional Youth Initiative ARYI.

See also the WSF World Social Forum 2007, Kenya.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « I think that obstacles represent hidden opportunities. They make one think and act differently, often transforming our lives for the better ».

She says also: « I think I realized that we are all responsible to try to do something to alleviate such pain … « .

Neema Mgana – Tanzania

Linked with Legal and Human Rights Centre-LHRC’s new book.

She works for the African Regional Youth Initiative ARYI, and for the International Council for Global Initiatives (site under construction).

Neema Mgana (29) is a young African activist who promotes social and political change. As an undergraduate student, she co-founded an Aids organization to serve children affected with HIV/Aids in Tanzania. In 2002 she founded the African Regional Youth Initiative ARYI, an organization that mobilizes youth and community-based organizations all over Africa on social and economic issues. She is also the Co-Executive Director of the International Council for Global Initiatives.

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Linked with The Pole Institute, and with The Coltan Phenomenon.

See also the WSF World Social Forum 2007, Kenya.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « I request people to unconditionally help victims of violence and war. Unforgettable moments occur when I successfully mediate for families and then see women return to their matrimonial homes ».

Read Report: Traumatic Gynecologic Fistula, A Consequence of Sexual Violence in Conflict Settings, May 2006.

Read: Dimitra Newsletter.

Justine Masika Bihamba (40) has worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1990 fighting poverty, promoting peace and human rights, promoting rural women, fighting sexual violence and supporting war victims. She organizes workshops within local communities and listening centers, grants rotating credits, and provides psychosocial, medical and legal support for victims of sexual violence. Through her dedicated work people are overjoyed to have obtained justice, gained back their health and independence and experience. This is often attributed to social and structural mindsets that awfully hurt women. Since 1990, she works against poverty, and from 2000 against sexual violence, for peace making, human rights, promoting rural women, and supporting war victims.

Justine Masika Bihamba – Dem. Republic of the Congo

She works for the Pole Institute, and for ‘Synergy des Femmes pour les Victimes des violences Sexuelles SFVS’.

Read: An open Wound, The Issue of gender-based violence in North Kivu.
Same Text on Pole-Institute.org.

Justine Masika obtained a national diploma in 1985. She is preparing for a graduate degree in community development from the Interdisciplinary Center of Permanent Education and Development. She trained in 2000 on activity planning in Goma, DRC, then on reinforcing capacity on mediation and conflict management in Cameroon and Benin, followed by programming tools in DRC in 2002.

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She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « I live by four main principles: give up not, refuse not, fear not and have hope ? I may be disappointed, but I never give up hope. »

Born in Hong Kong in 1932, Pastor Lee Ching Chee has devoted herself to the duties of the Church and education. She has rewritten the history of the ministry, which was once monopolized by male pastors. A female leader in the Church, Pastor Lee was officially ordained pastor in the 1960s when the Church was very conservative. Pastor Lee has paved the way for female ministry, and has proved that both sexes should enjoy an equal opportunity to serve in the ministry. She has been noted for her peaceful and cooperative approach. Pastor Lee Ching Chee is a female leader in the Church of Hong Kong and is the first officially ordained female pastor in the territory. She is devoted to her ministry and to education, adopting peaceful and cooperative approaches.

Ching Chee Lee – Hong Kong SAR

She is a retired pastor.

Lee Ching Chee was ordained pastor in 1966. It is a lifelong commitment. Even though she is now retired, Pastor Lee still carries out her duties as a pastor. She is one of the few leaders in the Church who advocate ecumenism. She was responsible for introducing the mission of the Ecumenical Community to Hong Kong, for instance by participating in the Hong Kong Christian Council, and other denominations. Pastor Lee has a world vision and at the same time has focused on building a solid foundation in Hong Kong by linking ecumenism with local beliefs.

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