Yay! Way to go, guys.
Time magazine just announced its annual list of “The 100 Most Influential People In The World”, and there are a few African personalities in it this time.
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Photo: Time.com
Here is the list:
Dr. Denis Mukwege, Gynecological Surgeon (Congo)
“In the heart of Africa, after a lengthy journey along a sienna dirt road cut through mountainous jungle on the eastern side of the Democratic Republic of Congo, within sight of the border with Rwanda and one of the bloodiest tribal-civil wars ever known, we arrived atPanzi Hospital in Bukavu.
It was there that I first met Dr. Denis Mukwege, a gynecological surgeon and founder of the hospital. With a towering presence, a disarming smile and a soft, soothing voice, he is a source of strength and sanctuary in a land of violence and despair—a forgotten war. The son of a Pentecostal pastor, he is guided by the Hippocratic oath and an indomitable commitment to justice on his own mission to save these communities one woman at a time.
What Dr. Mukwege and his team at Panzi Hospital do is extraordinary. Theirs is a reality where 48 women in the DRC are raped every hour, according to a 2011 report. They have treated more than 46,000 victims of sexual- and gender-based violence—6-year-olds and octogenarians alike. Beyond healer to these women and girls, Dr. Mukwege is hope,” Jill Biden, the wife of the Vice President of the USA wrote about Denis.
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Photo: Time.com
Jaha Dukureh, Women Rights Activist (Gambia)
“Sometimes when a thing is unbearable to imagine, we do the opposite of what we should: we turn away, shielding our hearts and minds in order to preserve our own peace. In speaking out against female genital mutilation, Jaha Dukureh has refused to let horror be silenced. When she was an infant, her external sexual organs were amputated in her native Gambia.
Now living in Atlanta, she founded Safe Hands for Girls to fight the practice both internationally and in the U.S., where 500,000 women have been or are at risk of being victimized. Dukureh’s efforts helped make it a crime to transport American girls abroad for FGM. Although she has faced anger and threats from her community, the thought of her three children keeps her going.
“I don’t want them to have to face the challenges I did,” she says, “whether it’s early marriage or FGM. I don’t want them to have to live in fear. I don’t want any girl to ever feel that way,” Peggy Orenstein, author of several books wrote about Jaha.
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Photo: Time.com
Idris Elba, Actor (Ghana, Senegal)
“Logistics undid me. From a floor below the writers’ office, the folks in production were saying Episode 311 hadn’t left the building yet, or more precisely: Idris Elba’s copy of the script was still waiting for a P.A. to ferry it over to set. I still had time to finish some page changes then head to the trailers, find my actor and break it to him. I imagined the conversation going like this:
“Good news, bad news. Bad news is we’re killing you.”
“Hell is the good news?”
“We wrote an amazing death scene …”
Maybe it’s funnier for the writers, but truth was I felt sanguine about ending Stringer Bell’s arc in the third season of The Wire.
For one thing, it made sense thematically to impale both Bell and Bunny Colvin simultaneously on the horns of reform. For another, I knew Elba, as true a leading man as I’d ever encountered, was not going to starve.
Before I could leave, the phone rang.
“I just read 311.”
“Whhaaaat? They haven’t delivered it yet.”
“One of the other guys showed me his.”
“’Dris, I’m sorry. I was on my way over to set to tell you.”
“So, I’m out of work.”
“Brother, you’re never going to lack for work again. You’re going straight to features. Don’t you realize that?”
Long pause, deep sigh and then: “From your mouth to God’s ear.”
No, my naive friend, He had precious little to do with it,” David Simon, the creator of The Wire wrote about Idris.
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Photo: Time.com
Mussie Zerai, Catholic Priest (Eritrea)
“At 17, Mussie “Father Moses” Zerai fled the oppressive military regime of his native Eritrea for Rome, where a British priest helped him secure asylum. He soon began volunteering to help other migrants and refugees. For over a decade, this Catholic priest has been a lifeline for thousands of Europe-bound boat migrants in distress, relaying their locations to the Italian coast guard and navy. In 2003, he set up an emergency call center to help with the volume.
A staunch critic of restrictive visa policies and the deep-rooted prejudices behind them, Zerai takes the view that “no one is illegal.” Instead, he advocates vocally, tirelessly for solutions to the problems driving people to flee war, persecution or even environmental changes in their home countries, and for more humane policies to help them reach safer conditions,” Ai Weiwei, refugee crisis activist wrote about Mussie.
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Photo: Time.com
Charlize Theron
“A lot of celebrities know how to raise awareness. Charlize Theron is different. First, she is deeply, deeply involved in the actual work of her foundation, the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project; for the past nine years she has spent a lot of time in southern Africa with young people, helping them protect themselves from HIV. Second, she’s incredibly results-oriented and knows her programs really well.
And third—and this is what makes her particularly effective with people who can make stuff happen—she’s not afraid to say what’s on her mind. I’ve never met anyone who holds less back.
That means people trust her, which helps spread her influence. We’ve been giving kids shoes for 10 years at Toms, and what we’ve found is that making kids feel special is just as important as putting shoes on their feet. Charlize’s work is the same: the work she’s doing is important, but the way she goes about it, by building kids’ self-esteem, is just as valuable, Mycoskie, the founder of Toms Shoes wrote about her,” Blake Mycoskie,the founder of Toms Shoes wrote about Charlize.
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Photo: Time.com
Notable Mention
The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame was shortlisted on the list of world icons and leaders from which the 100 most influential and inspiring people were picked. Unfortunately, he could not secure enough votes to make it into the final list.
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Photo: Time.com
You can read the complete list here.
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