When I told Ellen Johnson Sirleaf that I have a 4-year-old granddaughter who “knows what she wants and how to get it,” she said, “That’s the spirit!”
It’s a spirit that has characterized the remarkable life of the 83-year-old Liberian, the first democratically elected woman president in Africa and one of three winners of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. Known as Africa’s “Iron Lady,” she was honored for her work to secure women’s rights and to give women seats at the table in peace-building after her country’s civil war.
Sirleaf’s new mission is to bring attention to the fight against malaria. She is in Washington, D.C., today – the officially designated World Malaria Day – to meet with U.S. senators and others in an effort to gain support for anti-malaria efforts.
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