september-2018

38 / PEOPLE / Nobel Laureates
PEOPLE / 39
Ellen
Johnson
Sirleaf
Country
Liberia
Desmond
Tutu
Country
South Africa
Born
1931
Born
1938
Education
Master’s degree from King’s College London
Education
Master of Public Administration from Harvard
University
Highlight
Served as the 24th President of Liberia from 2006
to 2018.
Highlight
Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996
Nobel Peace Prize
Awarded in 1984 for his, “Role as a unifying leader
figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of
apartheid in South Africa.”
Nobel Peace Prize
Awarded in 2011 together with Leymah Gbowee and
Tawakkol Karman, “For their non-violent struggle for
the safety of women and for women’s rights to full
participation in peace-building work.”
Getty Images
Hollandse Hoogte
“To girls and women everywhere, I issue a simple invitation.
My sisters, my daughters, my friends: find your voice”
“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can
only be human together”
LAST YEAR, while handing the Ibrahim Prize of US$5
million to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Mo Ibrahim – the head of the
prize committee – noted that she, “Took the helm of Liberia
when it was completely destroyed by civil war and led a process
of reconciliation that focused on building a nation and its
democratic institutions.” In short, in her 12 years as the President
of Liberia, she laid the foundations from which Liberia
can thrive in the future. It must also be said that Sirleaf is the
first-ever female head of state of Liberia and only the fifth
winner of the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African
Leadership, since its launch in 2006.
To fully understand her influence in shaping the narrative
of her country, you have to go back and grasp the level of
hopelessness the country has been to. The 14 years of barbaric
and chaotic war, for instance, was partly run by child soldiers.
Sirleaf is credited with having been an influential catalyst in
the country’s efforts to gain a semblance of sanity. According
to the BBC, the no-nonsense, Harvard-trained economist
erased the US$5 billion in foreign debt after three years in
office, boosting foreign investment and government budget
from US$80 million, to US$516 million by 2011. She also
enacted tougher rape laws. Her shortcomings have been
greatly criticised by her detractors, as was her presidency, but
Sirleaf made history: she proved that a woman could do it,
could turn around a country that was on its knees. And she
has been a tremendous inspiration to many.
The Nobel Committee recognised Sirleaf together with
Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman, “For their nonviolent
struggle for the safety of women and for women’s
rights to full participation in peace-building work.”
DESMOND TUTU once said, “Despite all the ghastliness
in the world, human beings are made for goodness. The ones
that are held in high regard are not militarily powerful, nor
even economically prosperous; they have a commitment to try
and make the world a better place.” Who would have thought
that the son of a teacher, who grew up in the small South
African town of Klerksdorp – at a time when black people
were not allowed to eat in restaurants where white people ate
– would arrest the world with his work?
Tutu discovered books and education when his family
moved to Johannesburg. He became a teacher, like his father,
got a Master’s degree from King’s College London, taught
English and history, and later studied theology before being
ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1960 and as a priest in
1961. His rise to international prominence started when he
became the first person to be appointed as the Anglican dean of
Johannesburg in 1975.
From then onwards, Tutu’s voice grew louder, becoming one
of the most prominent spokespeople in the South African antiapartheid
movement. In the early 1970s, his theology changed
when he discovered the liberation theology, a term commonly
used by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez. He consistently
used his position to bravely denounce the social injustice at
this dark time of apartheid.
In 1984, Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which
the Nobel Committee said was, “Not only as a gesture of
support to him and to the South African Council of Churches,
of which he is the leader, but also to all individuals and groups
in South Africa who, with their concern for human dignity,
fraternity and democracy, incite the admiration of the world.”