Spotlight on People Who Are Making a Difference
Zainab Salbi was 11 when her father was chosen to be Saddam Hussein’s personal pilot and as she grew into her teens, Hussein began to eye her as a possible conquest. So in 1991, her mother spirited her off to the U.S. to keep her out of harm’s way. Within two years she had started an organization, Women for Women International, committed to helping women in war-torn countries rebuild their lives. In eight countries, the organization fights to help women retain their most basic rights—the right to leave their home, to drive, to be free of rape, to learn to read and to work. Now, 14 years later, Women for Women International has helped 70,000 women and disbursed $28 million in cash to those most in need.
Jay Winuk’s brother died in the collapse of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. On the fifth anniversary of that tragic day, he inaugurated a website called www.mygooddeed.org, where people can register their plans or get ideas. Pledges have included free Spanish lessons for NY City firefighters, airline attendants who intend to send school supplies to Iraqi children, Colorado lawyers who will harvest food from community gardens to give to a charity kitchen. He chose to commemorate the day with an eye toward changing the future, rather than re-experiencing the pain of the past.
The successive mayors of Bogata, Columbia, have transformed a city from a place plagued by car bombings, killings, kidnappings, rampant robbery, choked traffic, pollution, crime and worse. The region known as Bosa was the meanest slum in the city. Thanks to the innovative leadership of Bogata’s last several mayors, Bosa has newly paved streets, new schools, health clinics, cafeterias, cleaned up parks, children’s areas, the arts and more, all linked by a new public transportation system. Like the rest of the city, it has been rejuvenated through visionary leadership that focused on improving public finances, reducing crime and congestion, initiating a variety of publics works programs, managing better traffic flow and developing enhanced mass transit. Bogata is once again a livable city that is lifting its populace out of the muck and mire.
