Interview with Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner | #1 from Women, War & Peace on Vimeo.
I met up with Leymah Gbowee a week ago just before she gave her talk at the LA Public Library with the Aloud program. This was four days before she won the Nobel Peace Prize along with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman. We had green tea at her hotel. Although very jet-lagged and gearing up for her talk that night, she gave me thoughtful, considered answers to my questions. I’m very grateful to have met her and heard her speak at Aloud.
I’ll let you all know when the full article comes out. In the meantime, I highly recommend her book, Mighty Be Our Powers.
It tells her story of surviving the war, keeping her children safe and working to bring peace to Liberia through non-violent means after 14 years of war. The book conveys Leymah’s passion, sadness, desparation, fear and anger as she grapples with personal struggles, finds meaningful work and raises her family. Leymah describes the book as her therapy. But none of what I’m saying really gets to the core of what makes this book so good, so profound, so heartbreaking and powerful.
In the past, I might have passed the book over and thought, what does the story of a Liberian woman struggling with war and basic issues of survival have to do with my life? It’s not easy to admit that. But the truth is that I am inspired by Leymah. I am carrying her presence with me and as I try to get my writing out more and overcome some of my own fear obstacles, I hear her voice. I also hear the other women I’ve met lately like Abby Disney, Pam Hogan and Gini Reticker from Women, War & Peace. I’m thinking about a woman named Kerry who I met at the WIE Symposium. She’s off in Kenya right now working on a book. This sounds very cool, no? Kerry left two days after I met her and we’ve been in brief email contact. I’m hoping the writing is going well. We talked about finding a mentor and actually daring to say out loud–I want to be a writer.
But as I wait to hear from a bunch of newspapers and magazines, I’m feeling less than confident in my ability to pitch my work. Time to switch that around. I really want to share the conversation I had with Leymah. I want more people to find her work, her passion and her message. I want to find a way to be of use.
Do something today that scares you. Take a big or small step. And then report in. Let us know what you did and how it went. You can do it.
Here’s the trailer from Women, War & Peace. I love this project and the women who produced the series are all wonderful, creative, committed filmmakers. The series starts Tuesday, Oct. 11th. I’m sharing this just because it’s good (no kickbacks).
Women, War & Peace from Women, War & Peace on Vimeo.
Thank you so much for making me aware of this program on PBS tomorrow. I will be watching.
In 2008 I was given the opportunity to interview and tell the story of two female journalists in the Green Zone during the first year of the war in Iraq. One was an American, the other an Iraqi. Their friendship was extraordinary as they were both responsible for sheltering and saving one another from assassins on several different occasions. And it was humbling for me, an American, to hear about the struggles for daily survival in a war zone.
That’s amazing! Where can I read your interview? I’d love to see it. It is humbling to meet women who have been so close to these conflicts. It’s almost unimaginable for us in America, but so important to stay close to what’s going on across the globe. It’s a powerful reminder about how important each day is and living well. Not to mention helping others.
Please send the link to your article. Thanks so much for sharing. Did you make it to the Blogger Bash? I had such a sore throat. Decided not to infect anyone else.
Hi Deborah — I wish I could send you a link. This was supposed to be a mini-series for Lifetime Television called, “The Girls of the Green Zone.” We’d just had our 54 page outline approved to go to script when the Writer’s Strike was called. Two months in Lifetime wiped all their projects in development off their slate. It was upsetting for me as a hired gun, but I was particularly devastated for Christina Asquith (the American journalist who has written a book about the experience) and Zia Groosh (now Flossman) her Iraqi counterpart. This is why I’m bloggging now. No one can arbitrarily delete my work.
I did not make the OC Blogger’s Bash, but am going to the insane Blogworld Convention in November. I HATE networking, but will do my feeble best. If you’re ever free for coffee let me know. xo
Wow. That’s really not cool. What happened to your footage? Your script? The book sounds great.
Networking is not my forte either, but I’m learning. Let’s definitely do coffee. Next week?