Catégorie : 1000 women Peace Nobel 2005

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

The work of Dao Thi Bich Van in the trade union of the Department of Education and Training requires patience, devotion, the ability to convince and encourage, and profound love. She organizes initiatives to improve the lives of disadvantaged people, especially teachers, handicapped people, and street children.

She says: « I am an ordinary woman with very simple work ».

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Dao Thi Bich Van – Viet Nam

She works for the Department of Education and Training Hanoi, named on Asia Link, and on Frontier/South-East-Asia/.

She made trips to the countryside, where she came to understand the unhappy lot of teachers and students in remote regions. What she saw brought tears to her eyes and she pledged to improve their lives. She has established and managed humanitarian programs at the Hanoi Education and Training Department and the Department’s trade union, using all possible resources to guarantee their success.

In the past 10 years, she has mobilized teachers in the Department to donate to humanitarian programs and participate in humanitarian and social activities. She has raised billions of dong annually, totaling more than US$ 1.5 million in ten years.

For street children, she has marshaled vocational training teachers in Hanoi to give free classes in reading, writing and vocational training; she convinced the Swiss organization Terre des Hommes to finance the building and equipment and called on the Italian Motherless Association to donate US$30,000 to upgrade the classrooms.

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

She says: « Peace cannot be reached with bullets because then so many lives are lost. You cannot buy it or sell it with blood. It is a process that must be built from within the family ».

She says also: “They have threatened me with death” … and: “I worked from the age of six helping my family” … and: “When you are helping people in the community, you realize what is going on”.

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Virgelina Chará – Colombia

She works for the Cooperativa Multiactiva Interétnica Nuevo Horizonte Limitada (Inter-ethnical Multi-active Cooperative).

Virgelina Chará is an African Colombian, born half a century ago in the Valle del Cauca, in Colombia.

She has been threatened with death five times and cannot remember how many times she has been displaced from her home. She has been arrested, kidnapped, beaten and persecuted. She has seven children, three grandchildren and she never rests “because of my desire to live and to live with under dignified conditions”, says Virgelina Chará when talking about her life, which has lasted for half a century, punctuated by displacements and persecutions.

She was the first of four children born in Cauca, in Colombia. She was Afro-Colombian and poor, raised by her mother and grandmother. From ages 12 to 18, she worked as a maid in Calí. She managed to go to school in the evenings and graduated from the primary level at age 24.

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Linked with Classical Music Struggles to Be Heard.

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

She says: « I wish to present wonderful music and peaceful life to the public and popularize exquisite classical music to the best of my ability » … and: « A symphony which represents Western music, is a most complex yet splendid artistic form » … « Compared with China’s big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, Xiamen, with a population of only 400,000, has done very well ».

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Xiaoying Zheng – China

She works for China’s Central Opera Theater (named in China today).

Zheng Xiaoying is China’s first female opera and symphony orchestra conductor, and is the first Chinese orchestra conductor to take the international opera stage. She is now the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. Zheng has been awarded a variety of prizes in acknowledgment of her outstanding art achievements on the following four aspects:

I. Rebuilding of the Central Opera Theatre’s orchestra from ruin after the Cultural Revolution and excellent opera conducting:

Zheng has often been invited to give performances on important occasions in China since 1978. She has conducted many Chinese and foreign operas. She also offers tremendous support to the creative works of young composers and assists in the trial performance and spread of Chinese works. Her conducting is considered enthusiastic, conscientious, exquisite, and inspiring.Zheng has been invited more than 30 times to lead opera and symphony concerts or give lectures in more than 20 countries like USA, Russia, Japan, Australia, and European countries. She is the first Chinese conductor to take the podium in a foreign opera theatre and continues to receive such invitations even now. Zheng’s performance on the international stage has changed prejudices against Chinese and oriental women.

II. More than 50 years of brilliant teaching achievements:

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

She says: « All guerrillas, soldiers, and prisoners are my children. I shall be there for all of them. I will continue to struggle for peace so that they do not die ».

She explained: « I was no longer a mother in fear. That person had vanished and was replaced by a strong and knowledgeable mother. I began to follow the news. I read newspapers and books, which helped alleviate my pain. As soon as I put the kids to sleep I would turn on the television and watch programs such as Siyaset Meydani (Political Arena) and Teke Tek (One to One). I could no longer sleep at night. I began to understand that there was a Kurdish question in Turkey. I wanted to do something to overcome our problems, and so that I would never be faced with the news of Mehmet’s death. Whenever I traveled or met new people, I was compelled to befriend them and explain the real situation in Turkey. I was no longer an ordinary housewife. I would talk about the situation and I tried to organize the older women to take a stance. I told them, ‘Mothers need to do something. Today I am living through all this but tomorrow it may be your turn’. I knew the pain all too well and I knew that it would grasp us all, all over Turkey. Without knowing it, I was becoming a peace militant and a peace mother ».

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Müyesser Günes – Turkey

She works for the Peace Mothers (there exist worldwide many local groups named ‘Mothers for Peace’).
Muyesser Gunes has spent most of her life as a typical Kurdish village woman. She was born in Bitlis/Ahlat to a family with seven siblings. Her mother died at age 29, during the birth of her last child, because there was no village doctor to assist her. After losing their mother, the girls were forced to stop attending school to look after the younger children; Muyesser left school when she was five. At age 14, she was married off to a 12-year-old cousin and her responsibilities increased tremendously. She had to care for her sick mother-in-law and young husband. At age 17, she had her first child and for the next ten years, she lived in the village, milking the animals, baking bread, cutting and harvesting the fields, and producing yogurt and cheese.

The Kurds were completely self-sufficient since the Turkish state did not supplement their living in any way. Eventually, her village’s name, Mezik, was banned, along with thousands of others, and changed to the Turkish, Burcu Kaya. Her eldest son, Mehmet, was subjected to harassment by Turkish students and state forces and was kicked out of school for being a Kurd. Their house was regularly raided and at one point, Mehmet was taken into police custody and tortured.

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Linked with THE EUROPEAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION EERA.

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

Ana Maria Machado is a Brazilian journalist, writer, and professor born in Rio de Janeiro on December 24, 1941. She has her lifetime achievement, by the Brazilian Academy of Letters. (wikipedia).

She says: « My thirst for justice is what defines me. Peace is a harmonious coexistence between those who are different, in a world where social justice is guaranteed and individual liberty is respected ».

Find her website in portuguese.

Com mais de 100 livros publicados, no Brasil e em mais de 17 países, somando quase catorze milhões de exemplares vendidos, a escritora Ana Maria Machado sabe como ninguém conquistar o leitor de todas as idades. Entre os prêmios ganhos ao longo de 33 anos de carreira, merecem destaque os seguintes: Américas; APCA; APPLE, Instituto Jean Piaget (Suíça); Casa de Las Américas (Cuba); Jabuti; e muitos outros. Em 2000, Ana recebeu a medalha Hans Christian Andersen, considerada o Nobel da literatura infantil mundial. Em 2001, a Academia Brasileira de Letras lhe deu o maior prêmio literário nacional, o Machado de Assis, pelo conjunto da obra. (full text).

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Ana Maria Machado – Brazil

Her blog.

She says also: « It’s difficult for me to say who might have influenced me. I know I was an avid reader and still am. From North America, my first passion was Mark Twain. I remember asking my father for a book that would make me live through the story from within, very intimately with the characters. So, he bought me The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and that became an instant passion. Then came Huckleberry Finn, which has been the book I’ve read the most times. Eventually I read all his other books. Later, at age nineteen, I discovered John Dos Passos, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and Hemingway. From these last two I’ve read all they have written many times over. It was pure passion, especially Hemingway, whom I consider one of that very select group of writers who have thoroughly mastered their craft. He is a writer I would like to emulate someday; his ability to give voice to the land, whether in Pamplona, the Gulf of Mexico, or Africa, is truly astonishing. He is so humble amid nature, and his quietness allows nature to speak for itself in his works. Faulkner, on the other hand, speaks more directly to me as an individual. He overwhelms me and never ceases to impress me with his sensitivity and the way he is able to express the ineffable ». (full text).

She works for the Academia Brasileira de Letras, (see also on wikipedia).

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

She says: « The universal protection of fundamental needs of both men and women and the enforcement of human dignity – this is my motto ».

Ntomp Teclaire learned as a pastor’s daughter about the value of respecting and sharing with others in order to create true social harmony. A teacher by profession, she lived in different regions where she dealt with different people. She discovered that poverty and ignorance transforms people into egoists, partisans and creates low esteem. She thus ended her teaching career to focus on educating the Bogso community to improve their living conditions through their local potential. To achieve that she uses an organized work process that integrate solidarity and mutual assistance.

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Sorry, I can’t find any photo of Teclaire Ntomp, Cameroon, in the internet (see also my comment ‘Brave women without photos‘).

She works for their Community Based self help Association.

Village populations have mobilized over the past 13 years through a community association set up by Ntomp Teclaire. She has contributed to the well-being of fellow Cameroonians by providing training on sanitation, education, agriculture and nutrition. Projects are then developed, based on simple, indigenous techniques that provide income to self-help groups.

The long lasting change her work established with her community-based organization is local food production. The sales and consumption of the food have contributed to improving the social well being of the stakeholders of the projects. The international exposure and marketing of the products through several trade shows has lifted the image of Cameroon and created a demand for the food.

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Linked with Articles for Indigenous Peoples on our blogs.
She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

As an Indigenous Australian, Alex Gater has been waging battles against discrimination all her life. The first one began at birth: as a member of the Aboriginal minority living in White Australia, she was disadvantaged from the start. Racism was a concept she experienced first-hand growing up on Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission, an Indigenous community in rural Queensland.

She says: « I dream of the day when my people will be acknowledged, accepted, and not judged by the color of their skin ».

She says also: “I see homeless youth wandering the streets of Brisbane and ask myself: Why are they here? Why did they have to leave home so young? I see the sick and the dying in hospital and ask: Why are our life expectancies 15 – 20 years lower than those of White Australians? Why are our infant mortality rates so much higher? We are all part of God’s family, we are all created in his image – why do Indigenous people have to fight so hard for equality, for recognition”?

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Alexandra (Alex) Gater – Australia

She works for the Anglican Church of Queensland,
and for the Murri Magistrate Court.

By the time she was 13 and economic hardship ended her formal education, Alex had developed a real understanding of the injustices facing Australia’s Aboriginals, not just in her home state but right across the country. She made an important decision. She would devote her life to fighting such an unjust system.

Several years ago, after a career spent working in the ministry of the Anglican Church of Queensland, Alex Gater decided she wanted to become a priest. Her request was flatly refused by the archdiocese. It was the start of what would be a long and very difficult battle but she took on the Anglican Church, and won.

In 2003, after months of heated debate which culminated in her speaking out at the church’s national Synod conference, Alex became the first Aboriginal woman to be ordained within the Anglican Church of Queensland.

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

She says: « The villagers trust me a lot and let me completely fulfill myself in the lecture room. In the village school I teach the children everything I have learned. This makes me fulfill the values of life ».

Wang recognizes her achievement in teaching: “the villagers trust me a lot, and let me fully fulfil myself in the lecture room. In this village school, I teach language, mathematics, music and physical education. I teach the children eveything I have learned. This makes me fulfil the values of life”.

And she says: “I do not regret at all. I might miss an important chance, but I have obtained two valuable things: one, I met my husband who brings me happiness. I would rather say that I have found my true love, the only true love in my life. … Two, in the process of developing my career, I have met sincere rural people who treat like family. I cannot forget that whenever I do home visits or arrange parents’ meeting, I am completely impressed by their generosity and hospitality”.

She says also:

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Guilan Wang – China

She works for the Kindergarten of Huangling County, Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province

Wang Guilan was born in 1949. Shortly after graduating from Beijing Normal College, she went to Yan’an, the cradle of the Chinese Communist Revolution, along with 28,000 educated youths. It was 1968. Since the Cultural Revolution started in 1966, 15 million educated youths voluntarily or involuntarily went to the countryside throughout China. Most of them were inspired by the grand idea of serving the poorest, and they dispersed into the remote and barren regions.

At the very beginning, Wang planned to stay in the remote yellow earth of Shaanxi Province for several years. But she did not expect that this period would stretch to thirty years as it has done. More than a hundred educated youths, including Wang, were to stay in Yijun County. Wang gradually got accustomed to the local living pattern, and then she found her own place in teaching.

Her major area of study was mathematics, but she taught the rural children every subject. Until now, Wang has taught more than 3000 students, and most of them became the backbone of the local community.

Wang taught the rural children not only how to read and write, but also how to be independent and responsible persons. Most of her students lived far away from school, so they had to stay at school overnight. Wang always reminded them: “you come here, and you should learn to be an independent person. Do everything by yourself. Don’t depend on your parents.” Evey night, Wang went several times to see if the students were all right.

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Linked with Rescate Ancestral Indígena Salvadoreño RAIS, and with Articles for Indigenous Peoples on our blogs.

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

She says: « Under a strange empire, the martyrdoms amassed, and destroyed; perplexed, lost, their memory denied, alone » (an Apu Inka Apawllkaman–Quechua poetry).

She helps young Salvadoran people apply native knowledge and skills to modern business, instilling pride in indigenous culture and preserving community ties. (ashoka).

She says also: “To learn the language of our ancestors helped me to understand what was hidden in this earth. It awakened my consciousness even more and I understood what I had to do and whom I had to serve. I cleaned my home and my body. In the evenings I wrote down my impressions in a kind of diary. Indigenous themes were my main concern”.

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María Eugenia Aguilar Castro – El Salvador

She works for the Rescate Ancestral Indígena Salvadoreño RAIS.

And she says: “All my life I will remember that dawn when the old men came down from the mountainside bringing us the sacred wrappers. They prepared a bonfire for each one of us and gave us our respective sacred wrappers. When my turn came, my grandfather guide told me that from that moment on I was a Mayan priestess. I felt the transfer of all his ancient wisdom and the enormous responsibility that it meant. It is a level of commitment and service towards my people. I have committed my own life to this and I must be conscious of everything I do because I am a guardian of that ancestral wisdom”

María Eugenia Aguilar was born 1948. As a small girl she was introduced to the ancestral world through an indigenous nanny who spoke the Quiché language. She transmitted to her a profound love for life and nature. This was María Eugenia’s first contact with her original culture.

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Linked with Literacy Volunteers, and with Outreach International in Africa.

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

She says: « To educate a woman is to promote the culture of peace ».

She is registered as a political heroe.

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Lea Ngaïdana – Central African Republic

She works for the Association of Central African Women for the Fight Against Illiteracy

Ngaïdana Lea, is the founder and chairlady of the AFCLA, the Association of Central African Women for the Fight Against Illiteracy (Association des Femmes Centrafricaines pour la Lutte contre L’Analphatisme). Since 2000 the association has promoted women to become partners with. She says, “More than ever before women are resolute to eliminate illiteracy. Illiteracy is the principal obstacle to the improving their lives. They are conscious of their role in the country’s development.”

Since 2000, the association has promoted literacy for women at all levels as the basis for fighting injustice, discrimination, violence, politico-military crisis and establishing long-lasting peace.

Lea studied in Bangui where she obtained a technical and professional diploma, then joined the public service in 1984. She trained to become a literacy officer and in 2002 became the head of the literacy service. She has been awarded several distinctions for her contribution, including Knight and Officer of the Order of Academic Palms in 1997 and 2004, respectively.

She uses Information, Education and Communication (IEC), advocacy and negotiation to fight for the emancipation of rural women. Women of diverse backgrounds are organized into specific working, such as businesswomen, gardeners, food processors, farmers.

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