Lisa Shannon

Founder of Run for Congo Women

A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman

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THE LATEST: Watch Lisa Shannon's feature "Running for Change" on ABC News HERE.

Lisa Shannon had what many would consider a good life--a successful company, a fiance, security. But one day, while watching Oprah, she was awakened to the atrocities in the Congo: women gang-raped and demoralized, millions dead from the worst war since World War II. She decided, at that moment, to become an activist and a sister. She founded Run for Congo Women, which began with a lone 30-mile run, and which blossomed into the first national grassroots movement for Congolese women. An upcoming book on her experiences, A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman, has already won comparisons to Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea. It will be released in 2010.

At Run for Congo Women, Lisa Shannon has sponsored more than a thousand Congolese women through Women for Women International, where she is an ambassador. (The money goes to help them obtain an education.) In 2007 and 2008, Shannon visited with women in the Eastern Congo, and plans to return in 2010. Recently, and rather fittingly, she appeared, with Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, on an episode of Oprah dedicated to the greatest moral imperative of our time: the empowerment of women worldwide. (Her appearance was ranked as one of Oprah's most inspiring moments of 2009.)

Lisa Shannon Speech Topic

A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman

How can a single moment change your life--and the lives of others? With grace and integrity, Lisa Shannon shares her transformation from lapsed idealist to leader of a mass movement for Congolese women. Moving from her first lone run in Portland to the war-shattered Congo, she tells us the harrowing but hopeful stories of the women she's helped, and the relationships she's formed. How do you create a virtuous cycle by cultivating women's leadership, at home and abroad? Where do you find the courage to start a non-profit with no experience? And why must we rethink our relationship with Africa, one woman at a time? Anchored by human bonds that terror cannot touch, this powerful talk explores the world's deadliest war through the intimate lens of friendship.

VIDEOS

LINKS

Run for Congo Women

A Thousand Sisters

BOOKS

A Thousand Sisters

ARTICLES

From Oprah to Congo: One Woman's Attempt to Save Thousands - TIME Magazine

American Lisa and Congolese Lisa - The New York Times blog

From ‘Oprah’ to Building a Sisterhood in Congo - The New York Times

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