Kim Weichel

My name is Kim Weichel, I’ve witnessed racial violence and experienced the suppression of women, and I am committed to building peace. I am the face of Peace.

I have been a life-long advocate for equality, justice and peace. I lived and worked in Cape Town, South Africa for 5 years during the height of apartheid. I witnessed how the majority of the population was treated during apartheid –police raids, sub-standard education, brutality. I worked to save a 20,000 person shanty-town, called Crossroads, from demolition, trained employers to develop more integrated workplaces, and worked with community leaders to build a post-apartheid country. I experienced the African concept of Ubuntu – which means “I am me, because you are you”.  Ubuntu is the spirit of interconnectedness and interdependence so needed in our world today.

As a woman I am deeply pained by the prevalence of sexual abuse and harassment, and by our culture of impunity. Despite all of the policies, plans and public pronouncements, sexual harassment remains part of the culture of too many institutions, companies, churches, military and national cultures.  Violence against women undermines human dignity. I am committed to ending violence against women in all its forms.

As CEO of Peace x Peace, an international women’s peacebuilding organization, I work to raise and multiply women’s voices, to advocate for policies, legislation and programs that support and advance women, to bridge cultures via timely epublications to our global network in 120 countries, and to build a culture of peace. I remain steadfastly committed to building bridges across divides, to ensuring women are treated with equality and respect, and to fostering the spirit of Ubuntu in all we do. www.peacexpeace.org; www.kimweichel.org.

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