Zainab Salbi is a survivor of war-torn Iraq and in authoring two books - Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam and The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope - and founding Women for Women International, she has gained international accolades as she helps women survive and overcome the terror and tragedy of war.
The product of a progressive, upper-middle-class Baghdad household during the 80's, Salbi grew up to the sound of bombs exploding nearby during the Iran-Iraq war. The 1990 Persian Gulf War, however, changed her life.
Visiting friends in Seattle just before Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Salbi couldn't return to Iraq because of an embargo. She stayed in Seattle instead and enrolled in college. While there she became aware of the grave situation for women in war-torn former Yugoslavia as stories of rape camps emerged.
The stories inspired Salbi to start Women for Women International in 1993, a not-for-profit organization that helps survivors of war become emotionally strong and financially self-reliant.
Women for Women works with women who may have lost everything in conflict and have nowhere else to turn. They are enrolled in a one-year program that launches women from victim to survivor to active citizen. Graduates of programs are supported through services as they strive for greater social, economic and political participation for their communities.
Women begin in a sponsorship program where direct financial aid helps them deal with the immediate effects of war: lack of food, water, medicine and other basic necessities. As their situations begin to stabilize, they embark on a renewal of life skills journey to gain awareness, leadership education, vocational and technical skills training to foster financial independence, sustainability and access to future employment opportunity. Women are offered business services to start and manage micro-enterprises and credit programs with 98% repayment are available for access.
"Some may not see the connection between the past and present violence. Put simply, how women fare in a society is an indicator of the direction that society is taking," Ms. Salbi told BBC Radio during a recent interview.
When Women for Women members traveled to the Congo on fact-finding missions in 2003, Nabito was an Eastern Congo, widowed mother of 12 who had endured rape and physical batterings from armed milita members during Congo's civil war. She fled her village after the violence and was hoping to get her life back. Salbi, who met with her at the time, documented her story and gave her a small amount of financial support.
A year later Salbi returned to the region and met with Nabito. "Since we last met I discovered she used the money I gave her to start a small business selling rice," Salbi documented. "With this business she was able to rent a room, have hope and start a life."
“You came back to me," Nabito repeated over and over when meeting again with Salbi."There is a God."
In September, Salbi and Women for Women were awarded the highest humanitarian honor possible: The $1.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Award for alleviating suffering in The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Colombia and more.
Commenting on the Hilton Prize Jury's selection of Women for Women International as this year's Prize recipient, Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics, Harvard professor and Hilton Prize juror said, "Women for Women International has sharply identified the nature and complexities of a much neglected need associated with wars - the urgency of providing rehabilitation to people, particularly women, left destitute, impoverished or displaced by the hostilities." He added, "The organization is already protecting millions of lives from short-term agony and long-term ruination."
Since its founding in 1993, Women for Women has helped 73,000 women move from crisis to stability to active citizenship. Last June, Salbi organized a two-day conference in Jordan to bring together Iraqi feminists and experts from Africa and Asia to discuss building an Islamic society that respects women's rights.
In Afghanistan, the organization helped women understand the importance of voting and registered more than 2,000 women to vote in the historic presidential elections.
In Nigeria, Women for Women has been instrumental in helping women organize themselves to end oppressive widowhood practices and female genital cutting within their communities.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 9,686 women are moving towards economic self-sufficiency through the organization's micro-credit program. "These accomplishments are noteworthy because on both the micro and macro levels," Salbi explains, "women are making incremental yet sweeping changes in their communities and countries."
In planning for the future, Salbi refers to Michelangelo's quote on measuring greatness: "..the greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.' Our plans for 2006 embody his words. We've outlined an ambitious plan to launch our operations in Sudan and serve 1,500 women. We're continuing to deepen our programs and are developing a comprehensive package of employment opportunities for women. Our dreams for next year are big; May we get closer to peace and justice for women and for the world next year."