More than 400 people came and showed their support for the Women’s Refugee Commission at the 2011 Voices of Courage Awards Luncheon. This year’s theme was urban refugees, and our refugee honorees, Zrinka Bralo and Stella Mkiliwane, moved the audience with stories of their own displacement, survival and great courage in the face of extremely difficult circumstances.
Stella Mkiliwane is of the minority Ndebele tribe in Zimbabwe and after being abducted, interrogated and threatened by security agents, she fled to South Africa in 2007. Soon after, she began volunteering with the Refugee Ministries Centre (RMC). A family therapist and social worker by training, she played a significant role in humanitarian relief and protection in response to the wave of violence against foreigners in South Africa in May 2008, when approximately 100,000 families were displaced. She mobilized relief and resources for those displaced and later carried out assessment work of those living in temporary shelters.
Now the director of operations of the RMC, she has instilled a “zero tolerance of corruption” policy for organizational and governmental staff alike. Not wanting to be restrained to a desk job, Stella also continues to offer one-on-one counseling to refugees and asylum seekers at a Walk-in Centre run by RMC in Johannesburg.
Click here to watch the acceptance speech
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