Each year Women Have Wings awards WHW Courage Awards to women around the world who are living in the courageous spirit of Amelia Earhart. Each Award recipient will have demonstrated bold action in pursuit of her dreams, whether that dream be to bring fresh water to her community, heal a village from genocide, or seek and end to gender-based violence. For no matter the magnitude of her goal, the first step toward every woman's dream requires an act of great courage.
The inaugural year of the WHW Courage Awards - 2012 - celebrated the 75th anniversary of the famed pilot's around-the-world attempt. In this year, WHW granted three Awards. In 2013, WHW will grant Awards to six women.
With an endowment funded by the sale of the only flying and fully-restored sistership of Earhart's trusty 1935 Lockheed Electra 10E, WHW will continue to acknowledge, in perpetuity, women of great vision and courage.
2012 Award Recipients
Aloisea Inyumba
We mourn the loss of our dear Sister Aloisea Inyumba, a women of true courage, and one of Rwanda's greatest patriots. Up until her passing she was Minister of Gender and Family Promotion since May 2011. Prior to that appointment, Inyumba served as a Senator in the National Senate of Rwanda from 2004. As a Senator, she served on two committees: Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security Committee and Political Affairs and Good Governance Committee. While in Parliament, she was an active member of the Rwanda Women Parliamentary Forum, which brings together Rwandan Women Parliamentarians.
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Chi Yvonne Leina
Chi Yvonne Leina is a pioneering journalist and currently a reporter for the Global Press Institute. She is dedicated to unearthing hidden issues in her community and exposing them to a global audience. She is particularly focused on the problems faced by women and young girls in her community whose voices go unheard in traditional media. Her writing on breast ironing has unveiled the story to a huge international audience thereby setting the platform for change. Leina has braved police intimidation and brutalization in Cameroon to become a voice of the voiceless.
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Virisila Baudromo
Virisila Baudromo was selected for her courage over many years of political unrest, physical intimidation & imprisonment. She has been detained as recently as July of this year and continues to speak out, advocate and serve as an example to women in Fiji. Her work to train young women as leaders across a wide variety of important topics – feminism, environment, advocacy, human rights, etc. – is an important collaborative effort in strengthening the on-going human rights work in Fiji.
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Honoring women of extraordinary courage and action
