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Betty Williams
Betty Williams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 with Mairead Corrigan Maguire, for their work to bring peace in Northern Ireland. She says, "The Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded for what one has done, but hopefully what one will do." In the thirty years since the award, Mrs. Williams has devoted her life to creating a new way forward, a movement to begin a reversal of thinking on how we deal with the injustices, cruelty and horror perpetrated on the world's children.
"I had no concept of the depth of the children's suffering until witnessing their pain. Yet in a world that we know can feed itself, upwards of 40,000 children die every day from conditions of malnutrition. Surely we must question why we are allowing this carnage to continue," Mrs. Williams says. "Thirty years in the field has convinced me of one thing, the obvious fact that there are no answers from the top down. Governments do not have the answers. Indeed quite the reversal. A lot of times they not only do not have the answers, they themselves are the problem. If we are committed to helping our world's children, then we must begin to create solutions from the bottom up."
Mrs. Williams has traveled the globe recording the testimonies of children who have been subjected to horrors beyond belief. In her travels, it became evident to Mrs. Williams that to create the changes necessary and persuade governments to listen to the voices of their children, legislative changes must be implemented (legislation to protect children). The other obvious fact is that every country where children are under the threat of death and destruction, safe areas must be created, areas off limits to any form of military attack. Mrs. Williams believes that cities must be created; cities of compassion and peace, cities where children would be treated with the dignity, respect, and love they deserve. Such cities would alleviate the huge refugee and orphan problems in many countries.
As a result of many years of work In Italy, World Centers of Compassion for Children International is building the first City of Compassion for children in south Italy in the Region Basilicata. Mrs. Williams founded the Global Children's Studies Center in 1992. This evolved into founding World Centers of Compassion for Children International in 1997, in honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. |
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