Founder and Chairperson of Maiti Nepal Anuradha Koirala has been named the CNN Hero for the Year Sunday.
Koirala, 61, was declared the winner by t
he Cable News Network (CNN) at the end of the program ´CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute´ held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California USA -- the venue for the Academy Awards in 1947 and 1948, and eight times between 1988 and 2001 until it moved to the Kodak Theater in Hollywood in 2002 -- Saturday night.
She raised the CNN Hero placard that she was holding while standing with her fellow nine nominees, waved to the crowd before joining hands for Namaskar with teary eyes after American journalist Anderson Cooper announced her name as the winner. “This is another responsibility to me to work, really with all your support we have to end this heinous crime. Please join hands with me to end this crime,” an emotional Koirala told the crowd that also included Hollywood stars after receiving the CNN Hero statuette from Cooper.
She was voted ahead of Guadalupe Arizpe De La Vegaof Jaurez of Mexico, Susan Burton of California, USA, Linda Fondren of Mississippi, USA, Narayanan Krishnan of Madurai, India, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow of Scotland, UK, Harmon Parker of Kenya, Aki Ra of Cambodia, Evans Wadongo of Kenya and Dan Wallrath of Texas, USA in the total vote of around two million by people across the globe.
“I cannot wait to come back home to Nepal and share this joy with my fellow countrymen. This is an award for the whole Nepali people,” Koirala told Republica over the phone from the JW Marriott Hotel, Los Angeles hours after being declared the winner. “We were very few Nepalis here but they showed great love for the country. I want to share this with the whole country there,” she said.
“I feel this award has added more responsibility on my shoulders,” Koirala added. The award, which includes a cash prize of US$ 100,000 on top of US$ 25,000 given to 10 nominees, also provided a global platform for her fight against trafficking and sexual exploitation of Nepali women. “This award will definitely help in our endeavors. All the corporate top brass and Hollywood celebrities I met here during the event have expressed commitment to help us,” she stated.
Grammy Award-winning artistes Bon Jovi, John Legend and Sugarland performed in the program attended by Halle Berry, Demi Moore, Jessica Alba, Kid Rock, LL Cool J, Renee Zellweger, Gerard Butler, Kiefer Sutherland, Marisa Tomei, Aaron Eckhart and Holly Robinson Peete. CNN will air the program on the Thanksgiving Day, Novevmber 25.
Born on April 14, 1949 in Rumjatar, Okhaldhunga as the third child of Colonel Pratap Singh Gurung and Laxmi, she did her schooling from the St Joseph´s Convent School in Kalimpong, India. Being daughter of an Indian Army officer, she completed her formal education in India doing Bachelor of Arts from Kolkata.
She taught English for 20 years in different schools of Kathmandu including the Budhanilkantha School. She started Maiti Nepal in 1993 along with eight other women and the NGO now looks after 150 formerly trafficked girls and 475 children most of whom were affected by the decade-long armed conflict. The Maiti Nepal premise now boasts of a school, a clinic, a women´s rehabilitation center, a child protection center, and an administrative building in the same compound.
“I never thought that I would get this international recognition when I started Maiti Nepal. I just carried on with my work,” she said. “Looking back at the struggle during those formative years, I can now say anything can be achieved with perseverance and hard work,” she declared.
Koirala has also received several other national and international honors and was also appointed the Minister of State for Women, Children and Social Welfare by the then King Gyanendra Shah in 2002.
CNN selects 25 of the 10,000 independent global nominations as Global Heroes every year since 2007. And a blue-ribbon panel of non-CNN affiliated judges including Mohammad Ali, Sir Richard Branson and Yo-Yo Ma had selected the top 10 Heroes from the 25 names this year.
Pablo Fajardo of Ecuador was awarded with the CNN Hero Award in 2007 for making remarkable contribution in environmental conservation, American Liz McCartney got the award in 2008 for her dedication in helping Hurricane Katrina survivors and Efren Penaflorida of the Philippines got it in 2009 for educating the poor children
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Pramod Khadka
