Zainab Salbi - Women for Women

Tuesday evening Sonnet and I got to a black-tie fundraiser for Women for Women International. The event is held at the V&A and organised by our friend Christine. After a reception in the main entrance under the Chihuly with dance by Sadler's Wells (fabulous), we have dinner in the Raphael cartoon gallery where cool stuff like a day on Sting and Trudy's organic farm or an evening with Gordon Ramsey is auctioned for the cause. In all and by my estimate, over $300,000 is raised. As for Women for Women: humanitarian organisation that provides financial and emotional support to women survivors of war. Their programs help women achieve self-sufficiency through direct aid, rights education, job skills training and small business development. In 2005, the organization distributed $9.3 million in aid to 30,000 women. Here is their report from Sudan. The organization was co-founded by Zainab Salbi who is with us for the night and I have a chance to meet briefly (I will introduce her to Katie regarding the Op-Ed project). Salbi is an Iraqi writer and activist born in Bahgdad then to the U.S. at 19; her experience with the Iran-Iraq war sensitized her to the plight of women in war worldwide. Her honors include The Forbes Magazine Trailblazer Award; Time Magazine "innovator of the month", 2007 World Economic Forum in Devos "Young Global Leader" and in 2006 Women for Women received the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian award. She rocks.