The Face of Courage Lives as Shamsia Schippert

This article posted by Steve Schippert caught my attention. Talk about Living In Courage!  We sometimes take for granted the freedoms we have in America.  This Afghan girl Shamsia at 17 carries so much determination, along with a powerful courage of conviction.  Read on.

A teenage Afghan girl who had acid thrown in her face for attending school vows to go back to school, “even if they kill me.”

An Afghan teenager whose face was burned in an acid attack by suspected extremists vowed from her hospital bed on Saturday to continue going to school even if it put her life in danger.

Men on motorbikes used a water pistol to spray acid into the faces of Shamsia and around dozen other girls as they arrived at school, wearing burqas in the southern city of Kandahar on Wednesday.

Shamsia, 17, was the most badly injured and had some acid enter her eyes.

She was transferred to a military hospital in Kabul where she was visited on Saturday by other schoolgirls, accompanied by media.

“I will go to my school even if they kill me,” she told reporters. “My message for the enemies is that if they do this 100 times, I am still going to continue my studies.”It is not clear who carried out the attack which President Hamid Karzai and other officials blamed on the “enemies of Afghanistan” — a broad term that most often refers to Taliban insurgents.

Now, I want you to pause for a second and think about the raw courage on display here, and consider the challenges faced by others elsewhere as we commiserate our own in extreme relative comfort.

And also pause to reflect on the nature of the enemy we face, and come to grips with the concept that it will take an entire generation to win the wider war of ideas against this enemy.

This Afghan girl, by simply going to school, joins these people who are not afraid.

Yes, it will take at least a generation to win (defined as reducing the risk of radical Islamic terrorism to a nuisance rather than a mass murdering national security threat). But there is a foothold in Afghanistan, and an entire leg up in Iraq. We dare not shrink now and squander it.

Think about this Afghan girl this week when you are tempted to complain about the situation at home, whether politically, economically, or otherwise.

Faces of Courage
Posted by Steve Schippert
Published: November 16, 2008 - 10:08 PM

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Courage Award For Journalism Goes To Burmese Woman

Aye Aye Win won the”Courage in Journalism” award for her job reporting on Burma while under military scrutiny.  This award is annually presented to women in journalism who “show extraordinary strength of character and integrity while reporting news under dangerous or difficult circumstances.”

Aye Aye was under constant surveillance, her house staked out by Burmese authorities and her phones also tapped.  Aye Aye used disguises to move around when needed, and showed a great amount of courage while reporting under very difficult situations.

On Oct 16, 2008  in Los Angeles as well as Oct 21, in New York -  the awards for “Courage in Journalism” will be presented.  Aye Aye Win, along with Fraida Nekzad from Afganistan and Sevjul Uludag from Cyprus will all be presented with this well deserved prize.

Living in Courage Online would like to congratulate these amazing women for their strength of character, their efforts in the strive for freedom and their amazing courage in the face of adversity and challenge.  Thank you for making this world a better place to live and showing the strength of women around the world.

Debra Oakland

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