(CU)_This inspiring lady is a women’s and children’s rights advocate and a former freedom fighter. She seeks to foster opportunities that every woman, child and adolescent can own because, in her own words, “There is no equality without empowerment. There is no empowerment without knowledge.”
Graça Machel, born in rural Mozambique as the youngest of six children, grew up to become a politician and humanitarian. She is the only woman in modern history to have served as First Lady of two countries, as widow of former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, and former President of Mozambique Samora Machel. She is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group which advocates for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. In June, 1975, she was appointed first Minister of Education and Culture in Mozambique. During her tenure the number of students enrolled in primary and secondary schools in the country jumped from about 40 per cent of all children to 75 per cent of females and 90 per cent males.
She is recognised as an advocate for girls and women, setting up a trust which promotes education for women and children across the world. “I want to see education that produces young people who will not tolerate their peers living in abject poverty in the midst of plenty; young people who will be outraged by inequality and impatient to bring about change,” she says.
In 1997, she was honoured the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions towards the protection of human rights. The following year she became one of the two winners of the North–South Prize awarded by the Council of Europe. In 2009, the Mozambican politician was appointed to the Commonwealth of Nations’ Eminent Persons Group.
In July, 2018, Machel attended the 16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, held in Johannesburg, alongside South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and former US President Barack Obama. The 76-year-old humanitarian has also been awarded Nansen Medal of the United Nations, for her outstanding service to the cause of refugees, displaced and stateless people, and a gold medal by the World Health Organisation, in recognition of her contributions to the health and wellbeing of women, children and adolescents.
