Advocate for women survivors of war to speak at St. Olaf
Humanitarian, author, and media commentator Zainab Salbi, a survivor of war who is dedicated to helping women in war-torn communities rebuild their lives, will speak at St. Olaf College April 21.
Her lecture, titled The Other Side of War: Women, Wartime, and the Dream of Peace, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Tomson Hall 280. Sponsored by the St. Olaf Political Awareness Committee, it is free and open to the public. It will be streamed and archived online.
At the age of 23, Salbi founded Women for Women International, a grassroots humanitarian and development organization dedicated to serving women survivors of wars. Under her leadership as CEO from 1993 to 2011, the organization grew to help more than 400,000 women in eight conflict areas around the world, distributing more than $100 million in aid and loans and impacting more than 1.7 million family members.
Salbi is the author of the national bestseller Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny — Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam (with Laurie Becklund). Salbi has also authored The Other Side of War: Women’s Stories of Survival and Hope and If You Knew Me, You Would Care.
She currently serves as editor-at-large at Women in the World Media, a news platform in collaboration with the New York Times that is hosted on the paper’s website.
Salbi is known for bringing international women’s issues to mainstream attention in the U.S., making philanthropy accessible to women at the grassroots level, and pioneering microcredit programs to post-conflict areas. Her mission had always been to build programs that combine access to knowledge with access to resources.
In 2010 former President Bill Clinton nominated Salbi as one of the 21st century heroes featured by Harper’s Bazaar. She has been named among the 100 most influential women in the world by Newsweek, The Guardian, and Fast Company, and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Salbi has been featured by media outlets around the world, including CNN, The New York Times, and Financial Times, and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show 10 times.