We need role models to find our way, so I’m telling you about 5 women who inspire the world and generate change. They are strong women with very different stories and backgrounds. They are women who have chosen to be free and, with their freedom, to take action. Women in the round!
H.E Dr Evelyn Stokes-Hayford, the power of mother earth.
It is not possible to give her an age: her features are beyond time and space. Her bearing is regal, like a Queen of the Jacks. Her every word is well-thought-out and measured, but when she encourages, she is stronger than a tornado. She is sap for the next generation.
H.E Dr Evelyn Stokes-Hayford was among the first women to graduate with a degree in journalism in independent Ghana, then served her country as Ambassador to Italy, Croatia, Greece, Slovenia and Chair of the Board of the World Food Programme (WFP). During the years of her mission, she promoted and facilitated numerous development projects in favor of the most disadvantaged areas of Africa, particularly in favor of women and children. I had the honor of telling her story in the documentary ““The Wonderful Tapesty of Life”.
Dr. Alganesh Fessah, the courage of the lion
She spreads love in the world, the real kind, she has no filters of prejudice. She doesn’t want to impose herself on others.
Dr. Alganesh brings light to the darkest corners. Her courage is beyond measure. She has freed thousands of prisoners from Egyptian jails and kidnappers along the migration routes. Alganesh supports refugee camps, builds schools, shelters, housing. She has been beaten by “smugglers”, reduced to death in the slammer, mistreated by enemies: yet I have never heard a word of hatred or revenge. Alganesh knows how to forgive and love her enemies. The film about her efforts in Tigray’s refugee camps, Alganesh, is available on Netflix and other channels.
Adina Bar Shalom, the disruptive sweetness of the gentle breeze.
Smiling Adina, an ultra-Orthodox Jew from Jerusalem who has accomplished a true revolution in her closed community. Adina is a mirror of D_o’s wisdom. She is breath of D_o.” It’s true.
Adina is an activist for women’s rights in Haredi society, but her message transcends borders and touches us all. She founded the first university for ultra-Orthodox, Haredi College in Jerusalem. Adina invented courses for conflict resolution and promoted all sorts of meetings between women of different cultures and religions. She is a member of the Women of Faith for Peace. Adina reminds me that D_o is a gentle breeze, and that breeze can change the world.
Professor Azza Karam, one of the 5 women who inspire the world.
Impossible to adequately summarize her immense curriculum. She is a highly prepared, strong, lucid and kind woman. She has held numerous positions at the United Nations. Today she is the Secretary General of Religions for Peace,, based in New York. She has marked a new era in the dialogue between religions, involving world leaders in concrete and far-sighted projects.
Azza is leaving her mark, charting new paths, inspiring young women to take a stand and commit to a future in which female leadership will no longer be just a dream.
Sandra Del Bel Belluz, creativity at the service of the disadvantaged
She could blend in with women managers in the City, with croupiers at the gambling halls, with coaches on national soccer teams. Sister Sandra is the mother general of the Sisters of Providence, an order present on 4 continents, aimed at helping people with the greatest frailty. She travels from one continent to another making silent revolutions. He manages to coordinate his sisters and turn them towards the future. With them she invents entrepreneurial activities for women apparently without a future, rebuilds the dreams of trafficked girls, finds solutions for the most difficult psychiatric cases. Sandra’s creativity generates a real change, silent but disruptive.
