“Tell them (the Westridge students) my story. Tell them there’s a woman named Awadeya in Sudan. Tell them to stay in school, learn, and work hard so there won’t be any more women like Awadeya.” After years of fighting government corruption, which resulted in a four year prison sentence, Awadeya Mahmoud is now known as The Tea Lady and runs a collective of 8,000 female tea growers in the Sudan.
The poignant story of Awadeya and many other inspirational women left a mark on Laurence D. and Stephanie D., two juniors who had the incredible opportunity to attended the 9th Annual International Women of Courage Celebration, which took place in Los Angeles for the first time this year. Recognizing the impact of this event, four Westridge alumnae (Michelle Tyson ’56, Michele Shibuya ’86, Dhari Balvin Thein ’96, Karen Huante ’79) generously sponsored Laurence’s attendance, who came recommended by Margaret Shoemaker because of her work in creating a solar powered desalination system in Senegal. Spyglass editor, Stephanie, was invited to cover the brave and harrowing stories of the day, giving a “voice to the voiceless” as described by Vicky Ntetema, an undercover journalist in Tanzania who spoke on albinism (the Tanzanian practice of hunting albinos for their body parts) and human rights. You can look forward to Stephanie’s article in the next Spyglass.
More on the IWOC award winners here: http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/programs/iwoc/2016/bio/index.htm
Westridge School, 324 Madeline Drive, Pasadena, (626) 799-1053 ext. 200 or visit www.westridge.org.
