Leymah Gbowee's Speech

Leymah Gbowee gave a speech at the Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) conference, titled “Women Building Peace: The Liberian Experience,” about how her life experiences, before, during, and after the Liberian civil war, led her to determine how to fight for Peace successfully. In her childhood, she was raised in a community in Liberia, where people treated everyone as equals. They did not see ethnic, racial, religious, or social status differences and lived in harmony, but when a civil war broke that changed dramatically. At first, she only thought that men could make a difference and work for peace in her country. Later, she went north in her country to work and she saw the real victims of war; the women in this town her raped, were homeless and mistreated. So, she worked with a group of women for three things. They wanted a cease-fire, peace talks and deployment of international peacekeepers. They created a human barrier around the building they were having talks in. She was almost arrested for obstructing justice, but she preserved and this eventually led to success in gaining peace in Liberia. She explained that to
Secondary audiences would include other civil rights activists, students and history enthusiasts. Gbowee’s purpose and goals are to educate the viewers on her personal life story, help others fight for peace successfully, and describe the reality of women’s roles in creating peace. She also wanted to inspire the audiences to fight for peace. The interest of the primary audience, civil rights activists, and history enthusiasts will be very high because they all want to work for peace or are interest in the history behind the movement Gbowee started. The interest level of students will vary depending on their interests. Gbowee would like her audiences to be inspired to fight for justice and do so