Ewuraba - Professional African Women with Class and Style

Africa’s first democratically elected female president, a Liberian campaigner against rape and a woman who stood up to Yemen’s autocratic regime won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of the importance of women’s rights in the spread of global peace.

The 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award was split three ways between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, women’s rights activist Leymah Gbowee from the same African country and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen - the first Arab woman to win the prize.

Liberia was ravaged by civil wars for years until 2003. The drawn-out conflict that began in 1989 left about 200,000 people dead and displaced half the country’s population of 3 million. The country - created to settle freed American slaves in 1847 - is still struggling to maintain a fragile peace with the help of U.N. peacekeepers.

Sirleaf, 72, has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University and has held top regional jobs at the World Bank, the United Nations and within the Liberian government. In elections in 1997, she ran second to warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor, who many claimed was voted into power by a fearful electorate. Though she lost by a landslide, she rose to national prominence and earned the nickname, "Iron Lady." She went on to become Africa’s first democratically elected female leader in 2005. Sirleaf was seen as a reformer and peacemaker in Liberia when she took office.

Buttons from her presidential campaign say it all: "Ellen - She’s Our Man." The committee cited Sirleaf’s efforts to secure peace in her country, promote economic and social development and strengthen the position of women. Jagland said the committee didn’t consider the upcoming election in Liberia when it made its decision.

Best known as the only Black Female High Altitude Mountaineer in the World

"Mountaineering has taught me to remain focused on the end result when it seems like chaos reins. I've climbed through pain, discomfort, doubt, despair, blizzards, snowstorms and I'll continue to do so. It is the quality of our thinking that gives rise to the quality of our performance levels." 

Deshun was a member of the first South African expedition to Mount Everest in 1996 as well as the Discovery one in 2003. Deshun was new to mountaineering when she attempted Everest for the first time, but has since climbed some of the worlds most challenging peaks under the most gruelling conditions. She has been on eleven major expeditions in the past 8 years, reaching a personal record of 8 200m above sea level on Everest's Death Zone. Born in an Eastern Cape township, Deshun  moved to Gauteng with her family when she was 13. At that age she already dreamt of one day climbing Mount Everest and her story is proof that one does not need to be rich to make your dreams come true. 

She was a schoolteacher for five years when her life was "interrupted" by Everest. "Mountaineering offers one a new perspective on one's strengths, weaknesses and your ultimate breaking point. This allows me to apply my practical knowledge, assisting people in using their natural thinking process to push themselves to limits they didn't believe possible. I've pushed myself to unbelievable limits in human endurance and still haven't found my breaking point!"