’s journey to becoming a Nobel Peace laureate began, ironically enough, because she was angry.

Angry about the way women’s roles were reduced to little more than cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. Angry about rampant rape and domestic abuse throughout her native Liberia. And angry about the country’s “senseless” civil war.

At James Madison University Saturday, Gbowee, a joint recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, told those gathered for the 2012 International Student Leadership Conference how important that anger was — and even more significantly, how she channeled it into a constructive plan of action.

“You must be angry,” said Gbowee, who mobilized women into an influential peacebuilding movement in Liberia. “[But] when you’re angry, there should be no talks of revenge.”

Gbowee’s anger, instead, led her to create the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement. The non-violent organization — some 2,500 women strong — helped bring the second Liberian civil war to an end in 2003 after four years of conflict.

“The need for people to answer ‘yes’ to lead change is so great,” said Gbowee, who has been in the United States since Feb. 26 speaking on average at two events per day. “In order to see the change you want to see, you cannot [contribute to a movement]. You have to lead.”

Gbowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October along with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Yemeni women’s rights activist Tawakkul Karman.

Local Ties

The weekend-long leadership conference, sponsored annually by JMU and 91¶ÌÊÓÆ”, brought together about 200 international students and advisers from higher education institutions across the nation. Gbowee gave the event’s keynote address at JMU’s Festival Conference and Student Center Saturday morning, marking the second time she has visited the area since winning the Nobel. Even before her recent visits, Gbowee was no stranger to the central Valley. The 39-year-old earned a from 91¶ÌÊÓƔ’s in 2007. And Gbowee’s son, Joshua Mensa, is currently an 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” sophomore.

Gbowee is also the co-founder of the and supported the creation of the . Her movements helped get Sirleaf elected the first female president of an African nation. Her work also was influential in creating a lawful definition for rape in Liberia, which previously did not have one. The west African country now has one of the strongest rape laws in the world, said Gbowee.

“I describe the world as upside down,” she said. “Good is seen as evil, evil is seen as good. People like yourself and myself [are] trying to tilt it upright through the tiny actions we do.”

Giving advice to college-aged leaders, Gbowee told them to be persistent, bold and selfless and to have focused goals.

“There is no way you can lead a change if it is all about you,” said Gbowee. “You cannot lead a change if you are not passionate about your issues because it is that passion that will wake you up when your knees are aching
 when there’s no money in the bank account
 [it will] keep your adrenaline pumping when you think about your work.”

As Gbowee regaled the audience with personal stories and advice, some audience members had barely noticed that 90 minutes had flown by.

“I didn’t feel time,” Lynchburg College freshman Karen Figueroa said with a look of awe on her face. “It’s the most inspiring thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

As the event drew to a close, host Salorne McDonald asked students to “remember the words emblazoned on the back of your shirts.”

The words were a quote from Gbowee advising: “Don’t wait for a Gandhi, don’t wait for a King, don’t wait for a Mandela,” referring to a trio who are arguably best known peace activists of the 20th century.  “You are your own Mandela, you are your own Gandhi, you are your own King.”

Gbowee, who shares the prize with and , earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She attended CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute in 2004 and participated in a round-table for Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (known as “STAR”) in 2005.

Gbowee led a nationwide women’s movement that was instrumental in halting Liberia’s second civil war in 2003.

“Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections,” noted the in making the award. “She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war.”

Starting in the 1990s

Gbowee’s links to Mennonites began in 1998, when she received training in “trauma healing and reconciliation” and then worked at rehabilitating child soldiers. Perhaps unbeknownst to her, the first trainings in this subject in Liberia occurred when , a Mennonite with trauma expertise, arrived in Liberia in the early 1990s, with funding from and what is now called , both based in the United States.

Hart trained Lutheran church workers who, in turn, trained Gbowee. Hart also arranged for , who became Gbowee’s friend and mentor, to earn a graduate degree in conflict transformation at 91¶ÌÊÓÆ”. In 1998 Doe became one of the earliest master’s degree graduates from what is now called the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, setting the stage for Gbowee to earn the same degree nine years later.

In her 2011 memoir, “,” Gbowee says she came to 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” because it was “an American college with a well-known program in peace-building and conflict resolution. It was a Christian school that emphasized community and service.”

Responding to the Nobel announcement, 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” President said:  “The impact that Leymah was able to have, first in Liberia, then in West Africa, and now all over the world, shows that another, nonviolent reality is possible. This affirms the dreams and hopes of groups, educational institutions, and churches that are devoted to supporting peace work.”

“We plant what we call ‘seeds of peace’ as widely as we possibly can, usually through education in peace building theory and skills, and then trust that some of these seeds will bear fruit,” he added.

Seeds of Peace

The woman Gbowee calls her “true friend” and fellow founder of , Thelma Ekiyor, attended 91¶ÌÊÓƔ’s 2002 Summer Peacebuilding Institute, as did Gbowee’s first champion and employer in Liberia, Lutheran Reverend “BB” Colley, who attended the annual institute in 2000 and 2001. At Colley’s urging, Gbowee read “” by the well-known Mennonite ethicist John Howard Yoder.

Gbowee, who was named , is the central figure in a documentary co-produced by , “.” Completed in 2008, the documentary is part of a “” series to be aired over five successive Tuesdays in October 2011 on public television stations in the United States.

In her memoir, Gbowee credits with introducing her to the (WANEP), an organization that he co-founded and led after finishing his master’s degree at 91¶ÌÊÓÆ”. (Doe received 91¶ÌÊÓƔ’s annual and now works for the United Nations. His daughter, Samfee, graduated from 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” in the spring of 2011, overlapping for one year with Gbowee’s eldest son, Joshua “Nuku” Mensah, who enrolled in the fall of 2010.)

“WANEP, based in Ghana, emphasized using nonviolent strategies and encouraged women to join the effort to address problems of violence, war and human rights abuses,” wrote Gbowee.

WANEP supported the launch of , the organization through which Gbowee and her colleagues conducted the campaigns that played a key role in ending the civil war in Liberia. (This organization is the predecessor to Gbowee’s current organization, Women, Peace and Security Network Africa.) The WANEP-launched women’s network—plus , the grassroots movement led by Gbowee—laid the groundwork for the election of fellow Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president of Liberia, the first woman president of an African nation.

WANEP is now led byof Ghana, a 2002 graduate of CJP.

CJP Teachings Credited

Gbowee’s memoir credits two of the founding professors of CJP, and , with strongly influencing her through their writings and teachings.

“I read Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi and the Kenyan author and conflict and reconciliation expert Hizkias Assefa, who believed that reconciliation between victim and perpetrator was the only way to really resolve conflict, especially civil conflict, in the modern world. Otherwise, Assefa wrote, both remained bound together forever, one waiting for apology or revenge, the other fearing retribution.”

As Gbowee began to attend international meetings pertaining to peace and feeling the need to “speak with more knowledge and authority,” she says, “I began amassing books on conflict resolution theory: ‘’ and ‘,’ both by .”

In May 2004, the summer after the Liberian peace accords were signed, Gbowee came to 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” to attend classes at its annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute. “Those four weeks were another transformative time for me,” she says in her book, noting that she studied with Assefa at the institute and with, “who taught me the concept of ‘restorative justice.’”

“Restorative justice was
 something we could see as ours and not artificially imposed by Westerners. And we needed it, needed that return to tradition. A culture of impunity flourished throughout Africa. People, officials, governments did evil but were never held accountable. More than we needed to punish them, we needed to undo the damage they had done.”

Women in Peacebuilding at 91¶ÌÊÓÆ”

In June 2011 at 91¶ÌÊÓÆ”, Gbowee participated in a by-invitation conference on the needs of women peacebuilders around the world. Participants included filmmaker Abigail Disney of the United States, of Fiji, of Afghanistan, and , a Kenyan-Muslim woman of Somali ethnic origin who received the 2007 Right Livelihood Prize. (Abdi died in a car accident after returning to Kenya in July 2011.)

“As a direct result of this conference, we will be launching a women and peacebuilding program at our ,” says , executive director of CJP.

The announcement from 91¶ÌÊÓÆ” on the Nobel Peace Prize award can be found at .