Leymah Gbowee
Leymah Gbowee
Leymah Roberta Gboweeis a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's peace movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her efforts to end the war, along with her collaborator Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, helped usher in a period of peace and enabled a free election in 2005 that Sirleaf won. She, along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman, were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize...
NationalityLiberian
ProfessionCivil Rights Leader
Date of Birth1 February 1972
CountryLiberia
I have come to one conclusion: All that I am, all that I aspire to be, all that I was before, is by the grace of God. There are so many women in Africa, and outside Africa, who are more intelligent than I am.
I always tell people, anger is like liquid. It's fluid, it's like water. You put it in a container and it takes the shape of that container. So many people you see in prison, unleashing war on their people, they are angry, and they take their anger and put it into a violent container.
If you are serving justice to one person, those who have been affected should also be served some form of justice.
I'm now on a journey to fulfill the wish, in my tiny capacity, of little African girls.
At 17, the first time I saw a dead body, I froze. By 31 it was a natural occurrence for me, and no group of people should live like that.
Don't stop, echoes the older Liberian lady's voice. Don't ever stop. My answer to her: I never will.
We go into rural communities, and all we do - like has been done in this room [at TED] - is create the space. When these girls sit ... you unlock great leaders.
Regardless of whom you pray to, during war our experiences as a community and as mothers are the same.
When the guilty verdict was handed down, I walked outside and saw a rainbow encircling the sun. Everyone in Monrovia could see it. It was a hot day, 80 or 90 degrees. I don't remember seeing any raindrops fall. I thought, this is a sign.
You cannot say you've achieved equality until EVERYONE is equal and has equal opportunities!
I don't feel like I've done anything extraordinary but take my little light and shine it in darkness.
If any changes were to be made in society it had to be by the mothers.