Expert on women survivors of war speaks at UD April 26

Zainab Salbi

4:44 p.m., April 22, 2005--Zainab Salbi, the Iraqi-American founder and president of Women for Women International, will give a lecture entitled “Secret Potion: Worldwide Women,” at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 26, in the Pearson Hall auditorium.

Women for Women International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty into self-sufficient and active citizens who promote peace and stability.

Salbi’s lecture is part of “Prescription for the President: Policy Medicine for Global Challenges,” a series of Global Agenda lectures, which are free and open to the public.

The lectures by diplomats, journalists and other foreign affairs practitioners focus on the international problems facing President George W. Bush in his second term. Such concerns include the occupation and war in Iraq, as well as nuclear threats in North Korea, Iran and Russia. Other issues addressed by the series include terrorism, the Arab-Israeli conflict and political and economic challenges in Europe and Asia.

Salbi’s experience with the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War sensitized her to the plight of women survivors of war and led her to found Women for Women International at age 23. An Iraqi native who arrived in the U.S. at age 19, Salbi has worked with indigent women in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Kosovo, Pakistan, Colombia, Nigeria and Iraq

Women for Women International programs have helped 24,000 women and more than 103,000 of their family members and distributed nearly $14 million in direct aid and microcredit loans.

No reservations are required and free parking for the event will be available after 6 p.m. only in unrestricted spaces in the UD parking lot behind Pearson Hall (Haines Street entrance).

Organized by Ralph Begleiter, UD’s Rosenberg Professor of Communication and Distinguished Journalist in Residence, the series is designed to survey potential threats to the United States and explore the complex framework of global relations. The series is cosponsored by the University of Delaware and the World Affairs Council of Wilmington.

For more information on the speakers and their subjects, visit [www.udel.edu/global]. For general information on the series, call the Department of Communication at (302) 831-8041.

Article by Martin Mbugua

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