Leymah Gbowee's theme, ‘Moving Forward in Tough Times’, at the Peace Jam Awards
Luncheon could have been drawn directly from the trajectory of her life.
She was just 17 years old in 1989 when civil war erupted in Liberia, unleashing
the destructive forces inherent in such conflicts and enduring fourteen
years. Although she enrolled in the University of Liberia, her academic
aspirations as well as family life were disrupted and she was forced to embark
upon an uncharted path. Gbowee was able to convert feelings of outrage
and opposition to constructive efforts to end conflict and build peace.
In the process she has become not only a counselor, trauma healer and social
worker, but an inspirational leader. At age 39 she received the Nobel
Peace Prize, published a memoir about her remarkable life and figured
prominently in the documentary film ‘Pray the Devil Back To Hell’.
Over 500 people attended the event at the Denver Center for the Performing
Arts. Gbowee noted that her busy itinerary takes her from one end
of the globe to the other.
"Everywhere I go I become aware of people dealing with many problems, such
as poverty, rape and other crimes and political oppression just to name a
few," she said. "And sometimes I feel overwhelmed and ask
myself if anywhere in the world is free of serious problems. But I am
encouraged when I learn that everywhere people organize themselves to resolve
these issues," she continued.
"I am deeply impressed with the role of many young people in struggles for
peace and justice. And all this has resulted in the reaffirmation of my
commitment to peace and justice," she declared.
Gbowee presented Peace Jam Hero awards to youth as well as adults engaged in
positive change activities locally, nationally and globally.
In her memoir, Mighty Be Our Powers, she related that in 1996 when the war
temporarily subsided, she had two children and was accepted into a
UNICEF-supported program to counsel people traumatized by the war. A couple
of years later she enrolled in the Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Program
(THRP) operated by a Lutheran church where her family had membership.
That event marked her entry into a career centered on emotional healing and
conflict resolution. Within a short time she transitioned from assisting
individuals to assisting a nation.
When she entered the THRP program in 1998, the West African Network for Peace
Building (WANEP) the first of its kind in that region, was established in
neighboring Ghana. She met some of the staff when they were in Liberia
and relates how she began reading about peace building in the works of
Mennonite theologians as well as Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi and some
African thinkers.
In 1999 Gbowee met some of the women involved in WANEP and in 2000 she was able
to attend a women’s conference in Ghana In her memoir she describes
her excitement and how she was able for the first time in her life to talk
about the painful parts of her life story including sleeping on the floor of a
hospital corridor with a newborn baby for a week because she had no money to
pay the bill and no one to help her.
“No one else in Africa was doing this focusing only on women and only on
building peace,” she wrote in her memoir.
Within a year the women of WANEP launched the Women in Peacebuilding Network
(WIPNET). Although established in Ghana, an affiliate was opened in
Liberia with Gbowee as coordinator of the Liberian Women’s
Initiative.
At the Peace Jam luncheon she talked about the importance of allowing women to
talk about themselves. “Women were never encouraged to talk to each
other,” she said.
Meantime the civil war had reignited and 20 Liberian women convened. “We
talked not only about what we could do, but how just as war was considered a
male thing, so too was peace building considered a male endeavor,” she
said. “Women were never encouraged to be involved in public matters,
Gbowee frequently refers to the night in the spring of 2002 when she fell asleep
in the WIPNET office and had a dream. She says that God told her, “Gather
the women and pray for peace!” Subsequently, she told her Lutheran
co-workers about her dream and they suggested that God was telling Gbowee
herself that she should initiate that action.
She followed their advice. A few months later with the help of Christian
and Muslim women of all the ethnic groups in the country, she helped establish
the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. Thousands of women gathered
in Monrovia, the capital city, for months and prayed for peace, held nonviolent
demonstrations and sit-ins in defiance of orders from President Charles Taylor
under whose leadership the civil occurred.
In April 2003 Taylor relented and granted a meeting with the women. Two
thousand women amassed outside his executive mansion and they designated Gbowee
their spokesperson. Her comments to him are well-known:
“We are tired of war. We are tired of running. We are tired of begging
For bulgur wheat. We are tired of our children being raped. We are
now taking this stand, to secure the future of our children. Because
We believe, as custodians of society, tomorrow our children will ask
us, ‘Mama what was your role during the crisis?’
Taylor promised the women that he would attend peace talks in Ghana to
negotiate with the rebel groups. In June 2003 Gbowee led a delegation of
Liberian women to Ghana to put pressure on the warring factions during the peace-talk
process. As portrayed in the film ‘Pray the Devil Back to Hell’, in an
attempt to be taken seriously, the women’s behavior was sometimes dramatic.
The Liberian war ended officially weeks later, with the signing of the Accra
Comprehensive Peace Agreement Act on August 18, 2003.
“What we (women) did marked the beginning of the end,” remarked Gbowee.
The women’s movement was a crucial factor in the election of Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf not only as Liberia’s first woman president, but Africa’s first
democratically-elected woman president. Charles Taylor went into exile
and earlier this year was convicted and incarcerated in The Hague for crimes
against humanity.
Both Sirleaf and Gbowee (along with Tawakkul Karman of Yemen) received the 2011
Nobel Peace Prize.
From 2003-2007 Gbowee studied and received an M.A. in Conflict Transformation
from the Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia in the United
States. She has won a dozen international awards and continues to ‘multitask’.
Now 40 years old and the mother of six children, she is Executive Director of
the Women, Peace and Security Network- Africa as well as Founder and President
of the Gbowee Peace Foundation -Africa, based in Monrovia.
The Peace Jam Foundation
is headquartered in Arvada, Colorado. Its motto is ‘Change Starts
Here’. Its mission is to create young leaders committed to positive
change in themselves, their communities, and the world through the inspiration
of Nobel Peace Laureates who pass on the spirit, skills, and wisdom they
embody.
(This article appeared in the December
2012 issue of the Urban Spectrum, Denver, Colorado.)
