Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Rangoon, Burma,
which became Yangon, Myanmar in 1989.
Her father, Aung San, was
assassinated when she was two years of age.
Her mother was Ma Khin Kyi. She
died in 1988 at the age of 76.
In 1972, Aung San Suu Kyi married
Michael Aris.
In 1973, their son
Alexander was born at
London, England.
In 1977, their second son
Kim was born at
Oxford.
In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi received the
Nobel Prize in Peace "for her non-violent struggle for democracy and
human rights." Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest at the time,
so her son, Alexander Aris, traveled to Oslo and accepted the
prize in his mother's honor.
Parallel to the Fourth World Conference
on Women, which was held in Beijing from September 4-14, 1995, the
NGO Forum on Women was held at Huairou, just outside Beijing, from August 31
to September 8, 1995. NGO stands for Non-Governmental Organizations,
by the way.
It was at this NGO Forum that Aung San
Suu Kyi was scheduled to deliver the keynote address. However, she
was unable to attend in person, so she sent a video of her speech.
On November 13, 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi
became a free woman again after having been under house arrest for
seven years.
And here is the lady in a nutshell:
In December 2011, US Secretary of
State,
Hillary Clinton stopped by for
a three-day-visit in order to encourage further reforms in Myanmar.
Hillary Clinton and
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar democracy icon, talk prior to dinner at
the US Chief of Mission Residence in Rangoon, Myanmar.
Saul Loeb /Pool via Bloomberg
On June 16, 2012, Aung San Suu Kyi was
finally able to deliver her
Nobel Lecture. She had been
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. With regards to her country,
Suu Kyi advocates "cautious optimism," and appealed to the vital
role the international community has to play. "The potential of our
country is enormous."
Here is an excerpt:
War is not the
only arena where peace is done to death. Wherever suffering is
ignored, there will be the seeds of conflict, for suffering
degrades and embitters and enrages.
...
Every kindness I
received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be
enough of it in our world. To be kind is to respond with
sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others.
Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart.
