Auma Obama Awarded, “Woman of the Year” in Austria

An Austrian magazine, „Look!“ last month named Auma Obama as one of their “Women of the Year 2015”. Auma was awarded Woman of the year in the Human Rights Award Category.

The magazine in their statement recognised Auma’s involvement in giving young people a voice and motivating them to take over their own lives.

In her acceptance speech, Auma Obama thanked her family for their support. She went further to speak about the young people she works with and also the various terrorist attacks that have taken place around the world.

“It’s not eneough to wish for a better life, one has to believe that their have a right and deserve to live a better life. This is the only way young people from lower income families can stop being victims of their social surroundings”.

On the terrorism issue, she said “I wouldn’t be worth this award if I didn’t mention the events that took place in Paris on 13th November. 130 innocent people lost their lives. We all mourn and the world is angered, rightly so. But I also think about the 2000 people who died beginning of the year in a Boko Haram attack in Baga, Nigeria; only a few days before the attack at Charlie Hebdo, where 17 people died. Also in my homecountry Kenya, 147 students were massacred in cold blood after a terrorist attack in a University. The massacre in Nigeria hardly got any international attention. I would like to take this opportunity to remind all of us, we should protect ALL lives. ALL of them, because each life is precious. I would wish that we would in future, wave the flag of each country that becomes victim of a terrorist attack.”

„Aber ich wäre des Preises nicht würdig, wenn ich zu den Ereignissen in Paris am 13. November 2015 keine Stellung nähme. Es kamen 130 unschuldige Menschen durch einen Terroranschlag ums Leben. Wir alle trauern, und mit Recht ist die ganze Welt deswegen empört und meldet sich zu Wort. Ich denke dabei aber auch an die 2.000 Menschen, die Anfang des Jahres in Baga, Nigeria, nach einer Attacke von Boko Haram starben, – das nur Tage vor dem Anschlag bei Charlie Hebdo, wo 17 Menschen ums Leben kamen. Auch in meinem Heimatland in Kenia, bei einem Terroranschlag auf eine Universität, wurden 147 Studenten kaltblutig massakriert. International bekam die Massakrierung in Nigeria kaum Aufmerksamkeit. Ich will an dieser Stelle daran erinnern, dass es gilt, ALLE Menschenleben zu schützen. ALLE, weil jedes Leben wertvoll ist! Für die Zukunft würde ich mir wünschen, dass, wo immer ein Terroranschlag auf dieser Welt stattfindet, die Fahne dieses Landes weltweit weht.“