A Single Woman became First lady in Two different African Countries- Graca Machel

Event and Lifestyle

Graça Machel

Graça Machel DBE (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈɡɾasɐmɐˈʃɛɫ], née Graça Simbine pronounced: [sĩˈbĩni], born in 17 October 1945) is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela and of Mozambican president Samora Machel. She is an international advocate for women’s and children’s rights and in 1997 was made a British dame for her humanitarian work.

Graça Machel is the only woman in history to have been first lady of two republics, serving as the First Lady of Mozambique from 1975 to 1986 and the First Lady of South Africa from 1998 to 1999.

Note

Other women have been the consort in two separate monarchies. For example, Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122?–1204) was queen consort of France and later of England.

Personal life and Background

Born in rural Incadine, Gaza Province, Portuguese East Africa (modern-day Mozambique), she attended Methodist mission schools before gaining a scholarship to the University of Lisbon in Portugal, where she studied German and first became involved in independence issues. She is also fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and English, as well as her native Tsonga. She returned to Portuguese East Africa in 1973, joined the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) and became a schoolteacher

.

Following Mozambique's independence in 1975, Machel was appointed Minister for Education and Culture. In the same year, she married Samora Machel, the first President of Mozambique. Following her retirement from the Mozambique ministry, Machel was appointed as the expert in charge of producing the groundbreaking United Nations report on the impact of armed conflict on children. Her first husband died in a plane crash over South Africa in 1986.

Machel received the 1995 Nansen Medal from the United Nations in recognition of her longstanding humanitarian work, particularly on behalf of refugee children.

She married South African President Nelson Mandela on 18 July 1998, his 80th birthday.

In 1998, she was one of the two winners of the North-South Prize. Machel currently serves as the chair of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) Eminent Advisory Board

Positions and awards

• President School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
• Mozambican Minister for Education
• Chairman of National Organization of Children of Mozambique
• Organization that places orphans in village homes
• Works closely with families to rehabilitate children
• Delegate to 1998 UNICEF conference in Zimbabwe
• President of National Commission of UNESCO
• Member of Commonwealth of Nations' Eminent Persons Group
• Served international steering committee 1990 World Conference on Education for All
• Appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to chair a study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children
• Recipient of InterAction's humanitarian award 1997
• Received major award from CARE as result-longstanding work on behalf of children
• She won the Nansen Refugee Award, awarded by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for her humanitarian work.

Machel is also a member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s Ibrahim Prize Committee.

Chancellor of the University of Cape Town

Doutora Honoris Causa by University of Évora, Portugal, 14 November 2008

On 28 August 2007 Graça Machel was made an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the request of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Received Honorary Doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2006.

Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) Honoris Causa in March 2008, from the University of Stellenbosch.

The Africa Progress Panel

Machel is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. Every year, the Panel releases a report, the Africa Progress Report that outlines an issue of immediate importance to the continent and suggests a set of associated policies. In 2012, the Africa Progress Report highlighted issues of Jobs, Justice, and Equity. The 2013 report will outline issues relating to oil, gas, and mining in Africa.

Graça Machel is well respected female personality in Africa