Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

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  Building the Base of the Community: A Narrative of the Life and Work of Zahra Ugas Farah of Somalia

  Carmen Dyck

  Women on the frontline of efforts to end violence and secure a just peace seldom record their experiences, activities and insights – as generally there is no time or, perhaps, they do not have formal education that would help them record their stories. The Women PeaceMakers Program is a selective program for leaders who want to document, share and build upon their unique peacemaking stories. Selected peacemakers join the IPJ for an eight-week residency.

  Women PeaceMakers are paired with a Peace Writer to document in written form their story of living in conflict and building peace in their communities and nations. The peacemakers’ stories are also documented on film by the IPJ’s partner organization Sun & Moon Vision Productions. While in residence at the institute, Women PeaceMakers give presentations on their work and the situation in their home countries to the university and San Diego communities.

  Zahra Ugas Farah is a founding member and director of the Family Economy Rehabilitation Organization (FERO), originally created in 1992 to meet the basic survival needs of people suffering from the violent civil war in Somalia. Within a year of its founding, FERO was appointed deputy head of food distribution, working directly with the World Food Program. The organization has since expanded its work to include HIV/AIDS awareness; the elimination of the practice of female genital mutilation; the empowerment of women through education, income-generating projects and skills building; and incorporating women into capacity building and decision making at the local and national levels. When government and Ethiopian troops battled Islamic insurgents in 2006 and 2007, re-igniting pronounced violent conflict in the country, FERO mobilized women’s groups in Mogadishu and called on the warring sides to observe international human rights standards; the organization also continued their humanitarian work to save lives during the height of the fighting.

  The daughter of a clan chief and a devout Muslim, Farah has been participating in the Somali peace process as a key civil society leader. At the Somali Reconciliation Conference in 2002, Farah served as a member of the Committee on Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, and later was nominated to chair meetings of the Leaders Committee composed of rival warlords attempting to communicate and find resolution to the conflict. FERO has hosted hundreds of events to educate local communities on Somali women’s role in reconciliation and peace processes. However, as the quota of women holding government positions in Somalia is not being filled, Farah and her colleagues are using forums and declarations to revitalize the call for and realization of women’s rights and representation.

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  Color from Shadows: A Narrative of the Life and Work of Hyun-Sook Lee Kim of Korea

  Allison J. Meeks

  Women on the frontline of efforts to end violence and secure a just peace seldom record their experiences, activities and insights – as generally there is no time or, perhaps, they do not have formal education that would help them record their stories. The Women PeaceMakers Program is a selective program for leaders who want to document, share and build upon their unique peacemaking stories. Selected peacemakers join the IPJ for an eight-week residency.

  Women PeaceMakers are paired with a Peace Writer to document in written form their story of living in conflict and building peace in their communities and nations. The peacemakers’ stories are also documented on film by the IPJ’s partner organization Sun & Moon Vision Productions. While in residence at the institute, Women PeaceMakers give presentations on their work and the situation in their home countries to the university and San Diego communities.

  Currently the executive director of the Women's Forum for Peace and Diplomacy, Lee was raised in post-World War II Korea in a Confucian society marked by extreme poverty, heightened tension and militarization due to the political division between the North and South. As a student at the Hanshin Theological Seminary, Lee studied globally conscious theology which focused on politics and international affairs. She is the youngest member of the Presidential Advisory Committee for Reunification and the chairperson of the Advisory Committee of the Reunification Ministry.

  Through her work as chief of the Women's Desk at the Korea Christian Academy, Lee, in collaboration with her colleagues, was responsible for initiating a program aimed at raising awareness and eradicating domestic violence in South Korea. The Korea Women's Hotline provides guidance and support to victims of domestic violence and has served as a catalyst for the progressive women's movement in Korea. The hotline was instrumental in establishing domestic and sexual violence as criminal acts in South Korea.

  As co-founder and former executive director of Women Making Peace, an NGO established in 1997, with the goal of creating a culture of peace on the Korean peninsula, Lee has helped to open the door between the two Koreas by getting humanitarian aid to the North and encouraging the first people-to-people visits. Women Making Peace is a multi-dimensional organization that views gender equality, demilitarization, denuclearization, respect for human rights and the eventual reunification of North and South Korea as several of the necessary steps to making peace a reality. In the 10 years since its inception, Women Making Peace has forged new ground by bringing peace, gender and reunification issues to the forefront of Korean society.

  Lee served until 2008 as the vice president of the Korean Red Cross, where she engaged in humanitarian activities, which included her participation in the reunion of separated families across the divide of the peninsula. Inspired by her time at the IPJ, Lee recently initiated a 1325 Peace Club, which works toward implementing in Korea the agreed-upon commitments as outlined by the U.N. Security Council Resolution. The 1325 Peace Club activities also include visits to training centers for defectors from North Korea, of which approximately 70 percent are women, and the submission of recommendations to the minister of unification and related officials on appropriate measures for the successful resettlement of women. Lee has received the prestigious National Reconciliation Award from the Korean Council of Reconciliation and Cooperation, made up of leaders from NGOs and government, and a National Decoration from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.