I had never heard of Leymah Gbowee until recently. She is a Christian from Liberia. Never let it be said that one person cannot accomplish the impossible, despite terrible odds and circumstances that most of us have never experienced.

Wisdom, beauty and peace shine out from her face in the portrait I saw that was made in New York.

One night she dreamed — in the midst of the hell her country had devolved into during civil war covering 13 years (violence, rape, murder) — that she should gather a group of women together to pray for peace. When speaking, she felt ordained by God. The Liberian Mass Action for Peace, a movement of Christian and Muslim women, came together in prayer as a result of that dream.

…sometimes the process is slow and painful…It takes the love of God to get you out of the bed every morning to face the perpetrators of injustice. It takes the love of God …it takes your faith … Lehmah Gbowee in the above youtube.

The new documentary feature Pray the Devil Back to Hell shares the story of how this interfaith group of women helped put an end to Liberia’s civil war.

Abigail E. Disney, producer, and director Gini Reticker used footage from archives, and current video and interviews to tell the story. The film premiered in Los Angeles November 14, 2008, and may be seen in some local film festivals.

The women’s rallying cry was:

Does a bullet know a Christian from a Muslim?

Early in the film, despite the obvious disapproval of men in the front row, Gbowee is shown urging her fellow Christian women in St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Monrovia, to protest the war. A Muslim woman in the crowd, pledged to mobilize her community.

And from this small beginning, the interfaith group of women became their country’s conscience, convincing the warlords and the president to attend peace talks in Ghana in 2003.

You can read more about her here and read a conversation here.

Here’s a more complete account of how the documentary came to be.

Karin

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