My message to the world is that until we recognize that peace is not just the absence of war but the revival of life on the "backlines," where women are keeping kids in school, caring for the sick and injured, and daily negotiating space for the continuation of critical life processes of this nature, we're going to continue to miss the point.

The injustice is that women continue to be the main target of violence both during wartime and peacetime and yet there is still a lack of a public outrage.

Everything can be taken from you in a second, but the human spirit is so strong. War can teach you so much about evil, and so much about good.

Believe in your passions and act on them.

Long-term trauma for women who have survived armed conflict is a haunting reminder that health issues and depression can follow decades after the end of war, but women who hope for healing can and do move forward.

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

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