It seems to me that violence against women has been tolerated for so long that the world has become numb to it.

Like life, peace begins with women. We are the first to forge lines of alliance and collaboration across conflict divides.

Changes don't happen in the world by playing it safe, taking risks is the way to change the world.

Women are part of peace keeping troops in countries like Liberia.

I learned that victims come in all image - some raped, some witnessing an act of violence, some losing loved ones. I learned that the solutions come by both listening to the people impacted by the crisis and by learning from historical experiences in other places.

I don't have a child, so Women for Women is like my child. But I always said I would step down after 20 years. I didn't want to be a 60-year-old woman holding on to something I created when I was 23.

I by no means intend to simplify the challenges women face in any culture. Women are marginalized in all cultures in my opinion, some in more extreme ways than others.