Leymah Gbowee Research Paper

I recently had the privilege of listening to Leymah Gbowee, from Liberia, Africa, give a talk on her peace and female activism efforts in West Africa. Gbowee is a very down to earth soul. She started her talk off asking if she should sit or stand and decided to sit and, in her words, “Rest my aching bones and let this be a conversation.” Leymah was born in Monrovia, Liberia and grew up as a child and young woman living with her parents and sisters when the 1st Liberian Civil War broke out. She started out as a trauma counselor treating child soldiers and went on to social work school to become a Social Worker. It was her work in leading a women's peace movement that brought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003 and she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her efforts.

What is my legacy? Her legacy was to start a foundation to send girls, women, and youth to school. She has 17 goals to change the world by 2030. She started the Gbowee’s Peace Foundation which raises money to pay the $12000 in school fees for the girls. She had to take off her Nobel hat and put on her social work hat to work with these children. The school started out with 7 students and has increased to almost 89 today. Some girls went to other high schools, others went on to college with a few getting their Master’s Degree, and still others became pregnant and dropped out. This prompted her to put a medical program in place to keep these girls from going back to their parents who did not have the money to feed them, or homes that were abusive. Gbowee backtracked to see what was happening and realized everything had to be linked. The medical program, and the social work program to evaluate each students. She knew the students needed a place to stay and medical care if they got