In 2012, Women Have Wings will award the WHW Courage Award to three women living in the courageous spirit of Amelia Earhart. Each of the Award recipients will have demonstrated bold action in pursuit of her dreams, whether that dream be to bring fresh water to a community, heal a village from genocide, or seek an 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 year of this Inaugural Award marks the 75th anniversary of the famed pilot's attempted around-the-world flight. WHW will grant annual Courage Awards in perpetuity by creating an endowment through the selling of the only fully-restored sistership of Earhart's trusty 1935 Lockeheed Electra 10E.
2012 Award Recipients
Aloisea Inyumba
Aloisea Inyumba is Rwanda’s Minister for 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
